oyages 


BERKELEY 

LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF 
CALIFORNIA 


THE   LAST  VOYAGES 


ADMIRAL  OF  THE  OCEAN  SEA 


jrnti  p?i0  Companions 


BY 
CHARLES   PAUL   MAC  KIE 


The  more  we  discuss  the  undertaking  and  meditate  concerning  it,  the 
more  do  we  recognize  how  great  has  been  this  your  achievement;  and 
that  you  have  shown  a  greater  wisdom  therein  than  it  was  ever  thought 
possible  any  mortal  could  possess.  Please  God  that  the  future  may 
equal  what  has  been  begun ! 

FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA  TO  COLUMBUS,  Sept.  5,  1493 


CHICAGO 

A.    C.    McCLURG   AND   COMPANY 
1892 


COPYRIGHT, 

BY   A.   C.   MCCLURG   AND    Co. 
A.  D.    1892. 

All  rights  reserved. 


Bin 
M 


TO 


A  SMALL  RETURN  FOR  MUCH  ENCOURAGEMENT 


418 


PREFACE. 


IT  is  not  consistent  with  that  spirit  of  justice  which  is  the 
inheritance  of  the  true  American  that  any  man,  however 
long  dead,  should  be  condemned  unheard,  or  upon  a  partial 
record.  Few  among  the  men  of  action  of  his  time  left  such 
ample  declaration  both  of  purpose  and  performance  as  did 
Columbus,  yet  none  has  been  more  mercilessly  assailed  upon 
ex  parte  evidence.  Weighty  names  have  of  late  asked  the 
world  of  students  to  accept  their  individual  estimates  of  the 
great  sailor's  character  based  upon  their  presentation  of  his 
aims  and  actions,  treating  his  own  utterances  as  insignificant 
or  untrustworthy.  Were  we  limited  to  the  chronicles  of 
his  life  and  deeds  as  apprehended  by  contemporary  or  later 
historians,  this  method  might  be  necessary ;  but  happily  the 
case  is  otherwise.  The  letters  and  reports  of  Columbus  are 
neither  scanty  nor  difficult  of  access,  and  there  is  no  good 
reason  apparent  to  us  why  the  reader  should  not  be  enabled 
to  form  his  conclusions  at  first  hand.  There  is  no  occasion 
for  treating  as  a  mystery  the  open  book  of  this  man's  life, 
for  he  himself  knew  neither  reserve  nor  artifice  in  its  indit 
ing.  Of  him  it  may  in  truth  be  said,  that  out  of  his  own 
mouth  is  he  to  \>e  judged. 

The  story  of  Columbus,  as  we  know  it,  is  sharply  divided 
into  two  epochs, — the  twelvemonth  which  covers  the  Discov 
ery,  and  the  fourteen  years  which  succeeded  it.  The  goings 

5 


6  PREFACE. 

and  comings  of  the  Genoese  sailor  offered  so  little  to  dis 
tinguish  them  from  those  of  his  colleagues,  before  his  name 
was  connected  with  a  preeminent  exploit,  that  even  the 
microscopic  investigations  of  a  Harrisse  have  failed  to  recon 
struct  the  life  of  Columbus  prior  to  1492.  Had  we  that 
volume  of  "  Reminiscences  "  which  the  Admiral  wrote  in 
his  later  years,  the  story  of  his  earlier  days  might  be  told 
with  satisfactory  fulness.  In  the  absence  of  all  but  frag 
mentary  allusions,  that  story  must  remain  imperfect.  It  is, 
after  all,  from  the  years  following  the  Discovery  that  an  ade 
quate  conception  of  the  Admiral's  personality  under  varying 
conditions  is  to  be  gained,  and  it  is,  consequently,  the  more 
welcome  that  the  blanks  in  this  portion  of  his  history  are 
relatively  so  few. 

In  the  attempt  we  here  make  to  set  before  our  readers 
the  motives  and  actions  of  the  Admiral  and  Viceroy,  as  dis 
tinguished  from  the  finder  of  San  Salvador,  we  have  limited 
ourselves  to  the  materials  left  by  the  participants  them 
selves,  leaving  to  each  reader  the  apportionment  of  applause 
or  censure  as  to  him  may  seem  fitting.  The  familiar  chron 
icles  of  Oviedo,  Gomara,  and  Bernaldez  (the  Cura  de  los 
Palacios)  are  but  rarely  drawn  upon;  Herrera  is  seldom 
quoted,  for  he  merely  paraphrased  Las  Casas,  —  however 
much  modern  historians  may  quote  him  as  an  original 
authority;  Ferdinand  Columbus  is  not  deemed  a  first-rate 
source  of  knowledge  except  for  the  Fourth  Voyage ;  and 
Peter  Martyr  only  when  relating  what  he  directly  gathered 
from  conversations  or  correspondence  with  the  Admiral  and 
his  associates.  Benzoni,  of  course,  is  discarded  as  of  no 
weight  for  this  period  or  anything  relating  to  it,  and  the 
mass  of  contradictions  attributed  to  Vespucci  is  taken  for 
what  it  is  worth.  The  greater  portion  of  our  narrative  is 
drawn  immediately  from  the  writings  of  Columbus  and  some 
of  his  associates,  as  collected  by  Navarrete  and  scattered 
through  the  history  of  Las  Casas. 


PREFACE.  7 

As  a  measure  of  justice  to  our  readers,  we  have  in  all 
cases  made  our  own  translation  direct  from  the  originals  of 
all  material  used.  We  know  that  the  speech  of  Columbus 
was  strongly  tinctured  with  Portuguese,  and  the  effects  of 
his  long  residence  among  that  people  are  equally  apparent  in 
the  extreme  rudeness  and  compression  of  his  written  lan 
guage.  This  often  lends  vigor  to  his  expressions,  but  some 
times  obscures  his  meaning ;  hence  more  than  usual  care  is 
needed  in  converting  his  phrases.  Selections  from  his  writ 
ings  have  been  done  into  English  by  Major  and  Kettell ; 
but  neither  of  these  versions  is  easy  of  access  to  the  general 
reader,  and  we  do  not  assume  to  disparage  the  scholarship 
of  either  learned  translator  in  saying  that,  for  any  serious 
purpose,  their  renderings  are  quite  inadmissible.  If  any 
writer  is  worth  quoting  at  all,  he  is  worth  quoting  correctly, 
and  harm  enough  has  been  already  done  the  cause  of  honest 
history  by  drawing  hasty  conclusions  from  erroneously  re 
ported  premises. 

ENGI.EWOOD,  N.J., 
October,  1892. 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.     NEW  LANDS  BEYOND  THE  SEA n 

II.     FOUNDING  THE  GREAT  MONOPOLY 32 

III.  THE  BEGINNING  OF  EMIGRATION 50 

IV.  THE  ISLANDS  OF  THE  CANNIBALS 72 

V.    A  BITTER  DISILLUSION 92 

VI.     TAKING  ROOT in 

VII.     THE  VICEROY'S  FIRST  REPORT 126 

VIII.     THE  BEGINNING  OF  CONQUEST 142 

IX.     IDENTIFYING  ASIA 163 

X.     THE  REVOLT  OF  THE  TRIBES 186 

XI.     THE  PENALTY  OF  DEFEAT 205 

XII.     INVESTIGATION  AND  VINDICATION 227 

XIII.  PLANNING  NEW  DISCOVERIES 249 

XIV.  SEEKING  THE  GREAT  SOUTH  LAND      ....  278 
XV.  "THESE  LANDS  ARE  ANOTHER  WORLD"    .     .     .  298 

XVI.     FROM  PARADISE  TO  INFERNO 322 

XVII.     PRODIGAL  MAGNANIMITY 340 

XVIII.     THE  FAITH  OF  PRINCES 359 


10  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  PACK 

XIX.  THE  TRIUMPH  OF  INTRIGUE  .     .     .     ....  382 

XX.  THE  AMEND  POLITIC 404 

XXI.  ANTICIPATING  MAGELLAN 427 

XXII.  AN  INACCESSIBLE  OCEAN 450 

XXIII.  THE  GREATEST  PERIL  OF  ALI 474 

XXIV.  "I    HAVE   DONE   ALL    I    COULD" 496 


THE  LAST  VOYAGES  OF  THE  ADMIRAL 
OF  THE  OCEAN  SEA. 


i. 


NEW  LANDS   BEYOND  THE  SEA. 

"  \  T  7HEN  I  had  undertaken  this  enterprise  and  gone  to 
V  V  discover  the  Indies,  I  proposed  in  my  mind  to  go 
personally  to  your  Holiness  [when  I  returned]  with 
an  account  of  all  that  had  happened.  There  arose  at  that  time 
a  dispute  between  the  King  of  Portugal  and  the  King  and  Queen, 
my  sovereigns;  the  King  of  Portugal  declaring  that  he  also 
intended  to  send  out  on  that  course  to  discover  and  win  lands 
in  those  parts,  —  and  so  he  stood  upon  his  rights.  The  King 
and  Queen,  my  sovereigns,  thereupon  sent  me  in  haste  upon  the 
task  of  discovering  and  winning  everything,  and  so  my  journey 
to  your  Holiness  could  not  be  effected." 

Thus  succinctly  did  Columbus,  writing  in  after  years  to 
Pope  Alexander  VI.,  epitomize  the  events  of  the  six  months 
of  hurried  intrigue  and  feverish  preparation  which  elapsed 
between  his  arrival  from  "  the  Discovery,"  as,  for  the  sake 
of  distinction,  he  termed  his  first  voyage,  and  his  departure 
upon  the  second.  Yet  no  period  of  his  career  was  so 
crowded  with  incident  and  excitement,  and  at  no  time  did 
he  occupy  so  preeminent  a  place  in  the  minds  of  princes 
and  people,  as  during  the  half-year  he  dismisses  in  this 
summary  fashion. 

ii 


12          THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE   ADMIRAL. 

The  Te  Deums  and  Non  Nobises*  had  been  chanted  by 
the  choristers  of  the  Royal  Chapel  at  Barcelona;  their 
Majesties  had  indicated  by  acts  of  pointed  condescension 
the  esteem  in  which  they  held  their  new  Admiral ;  the  com 
plaisant  Court  had  hastened  to  follow  the  example  thus 
unmistakably  set,  and  the  thoughts  of  high  and  low  alike 
were  turned  towards  the  regions  of  boundless  hope  and 
promise  which  so  unexpectedly  were  opened  to  the  arms 
and  ambition  of  the  twin  kingdoms  of  Aragon  and  Castile. 
Little  did  the  hungry  placemen,  the  adventurous  soldiers 
of  fortune,  or  the  hardy  seamen  of  the  day  care  whether 
the  new-found  lands  were  Cathay  or  Cipango,  Farther  India 
or  the  Golden  Chersonesus,  the  Asiatic  continent  or  a  group 
of  unnamed  islands  off  its  coasts.  One  thing  was  patent : 
Don  Christopher  Columbus  had  crossed  and  recrossed  the 
Ocean  Sea  in  safety  and  most  palpably  demonstrated  that  but 
a  short  month's  sail  lay  between  the  Pillars  of  Hercules  and 
the  countries  "where  the  spices  grew,"  where  "the  temples 
and  palaces  were  sheathed  with  planks  of  gold."  The  rare 
fabrics  of  silk  and  golden  broidery,  the  gems  and  carven 
ivories,  the  perfumes  and  incense  which  the  luxury-loving 
Spaniards  had  seen  and  admired  in  Court  pageant  and 
church  ceremonial,  or  looted  in  the  Moorish  palaces  of 
Alhama  and  Granada,  had  come,  as  all  men  knew,  from  the 
hazy  confines  of  the  distant  East ;  and  were  not  these  the 
realms  now  seized  and  garrisoned  for  the  Crown  of  Spain 
by  the  Admiral  and  his  fortunate  command  ?  Nothing  more 
natural  than  that  all  should  be  eager  to  extend  the  discov 
eries  thus  happily  made,  and  derive  some  share  either  of 
profit  or  glory  from  the  prosecution  of  the  new  crusade. 
The  triumphant  conclusion  of  the  wars  of  Granada  had  left 
the  south  of  Spain  filled  with  a  multitude  of  restless  spirits 
sighing,  like  later  Alexanders,  for  other  worlds  to  have  at 
and  plunder ;  and,  lo  !  as  by  a  miracle,  their  dearest  wish 
was  gratified,  and  the  whole  Antipodes  of  Earth  were 
offered  them  for  the  taking. 

The  stupendous  exploit  had  broken  upon  them  all  as  a 
surprise.  Except  a  few  of  the  more  observant  placemen  at 
Court  and  some  hundreds  of  unimportant  subjects  in  the 


NEW  LANDS  BEYOND    THE   SEA.  13 

maritime  districts  of  Andalusia,  none  had  borne  in  mind 
the  sailing  of  the  Genoese  captain  the  year  before  with  his 
modest  equipment  of  caravels.  Now  he  was  returned,  with 
a  tale  the  like  of  which  even  the  Moorish  romancers  could 
not  rival.  Had  it  been  merely  the  story  of  some  crew  of 
inventive  sailors,  recounting  to  hearers  who  could  not  gain 
say  them  the  marvels  of  a  voyage  to  unknown  shores,  the 
credulity  of  the  vulgar  throng  would  have  been  jeered  at 
by  the  politer  circles  who  knew  so  much  better.  But  this 
Senor  Colon,  or  Colombo  as  he  was  sometimes  called,  had 
not  scrupled  to  write  more  than  one  report  teeming  with 
the  wonders  of  his  recent  voyage,  —  to  the  King  and  Queen, 
to  Santangel,  the  royal  treasurer  of  Aragon,  to  Sanchez,  the 
comptroller  of  the  royal  finances,  and  to  others  of  equal 
eminence ;  and  these  reports  were  not  only  most  sincerely 
credited  by  the  sovereigns  and  their  learned  men,  but  they 
had  been  instantly  printed  and  passed  into  general  circula 
tion.  Therefore  were  the  learned,  polite,  and  vulgar  together 
soon  possessed  of  all  the  facts  concerning  this  astonishing 
Discovery ;  and  the  conceptions  held  by  all,  as  to  the  new 
lands  beyond  the  Western  Ocean,  were  grounded  upon  the 
statements  of  Columbus  himself  as  he  had  promulgated 
them  in  the  letters  prepared  upon  his  homeward  voyage. 

Little  wonder  that  their  contents  excited  the  enthusiasm 
of  widely  different  classes  of  society.  Here  is  what  they 
read,  or  had  read  to  them,  of  the  great  island,  over  yonder 
in  the  Indian  seas,  which  the  new-made  Admiral  had  dis 
covered  and  christened  the  Spanish  Isle  :  — 

"  Hispaniola  is  a  marvel ;  the  sierras  and  forests,  plains  and 
prairies  are  so  comely  and  fertile  for  planting  and  sowing,  for 
raising  cattle  of  all  kinds,  for  the  building  of  cities  and  settle 
ments.  The  seaports  would  not  be  credited  in  Europe  without 
being  seen,  and  the  rivers  are  many  and  wide,  with  good  water, 
most  of  them  carrying  gold.  Here  are  great  mines  of  gold  and 
other  metals." 

In  this  fair  region  Nature  had  been  lavish  in  her  gifts  :  — 

"  The  trees  are  of  a  thousand  varieties  and  appear  to  reach 
the  skies.  From  what  I  understand  they  never  lose  their  foliage, 
for  I  saw  them  as  green  and  beautiful  as  in  the  month  of  May  in 


14          THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

Spain.  Some  of  them  bear  flowers,  others  fruits,  and  others 
neither,  according  to  their  kind.  The  nightingale  and  a  thou 
sand  other  birds  were  singing  there  when  I  was  travelling,  in  the 
month  of  November.  There  are  six  or  eight  different  varieties 
of  palms,  which  it  is  a  delight  to  see,  so  various  is  their  beauty, 
and  even  more  so  the  other  trees  and  fruits  and  herbs.  There 
are  marvellous  pine  forests,  and  vast  meadows,  and  honey,  and 
many  kinds  of  birds  and  fruits,  all  very  unlike.  In  those  lands 
are  many  mines  of  metals,  and  people  beyond  count." 

The  inhabitants  of  this  paradise  were  not  of  a  sort  to 
offer  impediment  to  any  scheme  of  conquest  or  aggrandize 
ment  which  the  Spaniards  might  set  on  foot. 

"The  people  of  these  islands  and  all  others  of  which  I  had 
news  go  naked  as  the  day  they  were  born.  They  have  neither 
iron  nor  steel,  and  no  weapons  at  all,  nor  are  they  fitted  to  use 
them.  They  have  no  arms  other  than  the  stalks  of  canes  at 
seed-time,  to  which  they  fasten  sharpened  bits  of  wood,  and  they 
do  not  dare  to  use  even  these ;  for  it  often  befell  that  I  sent  two 
or  three  of  my  men  ashore  to  some  village  to  communicate  with 
the  natives,  and  a  great  crowd  would  come  out  to  meet  them, 
and  as  soon  as  they  drew  near  would  take  to  flight  without  wait 
ing  for  father  or  son.  They  are  timid  past  hope.  The  truth  is, 
that  as  soon  as  they  become  quieted  and  lose  this  dread,  they 
are  so  guileless  and  generous  with  what  they  possess  that  it  will 
not  be  believed  unless  it  is  seen.  They  never  say  'no1  to  a 
request  for  anything  they  have ;  rather  do  they  offer  it  to  one, 
and  show  such  affection  that  they  would  give  away  their  hearts. 
Whatever  is  given  them,  whether  it  be  of  value  or  of  no  account, 
they  are  satisfied.  I  had  to  prohibit  the  sailors  giving  them  such 
common  things  as  a  bit  of  a  broken  pot  or  of  broken  glass,  and 
such  like ;  for  one  sailor  traded  off  a  needle  for  two  and  a  half 
ounces  of  gold,  and  for  new  copper  coins  they  would  give  all 
they  had,  even  to  two  or  three  ounces  of  gold  or  one  or  two 
arrobas  of  cotton  yarn.  Even  the  pieces  of  iron  hoops  they 
would  accept,  and  give  in  exchange  everything  they  had,  like 
fools,  until  I  had  to  put  a  stop  to  it,  for  it  seemed  ill  to  me.1' 

All  these  fair  lands,  with  their  hordes  of  gentle  savages 
and  promise  of  fabulous  wealth,  had  been  annexed  by 
Columbus  to  the  domains  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  and  a 
garrison  left  therein  in  token  of  possession  and  as  an  earnest 
of  immediate  return. 


NEW  LANDS  BEYOND    THE   SEA.  15 

"  These  countries  are  richer  than  I  know  how  to  say,  and  I 
have  taken  possession  of  them  all  for  their  Majesties,  who  can 
now  dispose  of  them  in  the  same  manner  and  as  completely  as 
they  do  of  these  Kingdoms  of  Castile.  In  this  Hispaniola,  in 
the  most  convenient  place  and  best  neighborhood  for  the  mines 
of  gold  and  for  all  kinds  of  commerce,  —  both  with  the  continent 
over  here  [Europe]  and  that  out  there,  of  the  Great  Khan,  where 
there  will  be  great  traffic  and  profit,  —  I  have  also  taken  posses 
sion  of  a  large  city  which  I  have  named  Navidad,  and  in  it  have 
built  a  fortress  and  keep,  which  by  this  time  should  be  entirely 
finished.  In  it  I  have  left  enough  people  for  the  purpose,  with 
arms  and  artillery  and  supplies  for  more  than  a  year,  and  a  barge 
and  a  shipmaster  competent  to  work  in  all  the  crafts ;  and  have 
established  friendship  with  the  King  of  that  country  to  such  a 
degree  that  he  prided  himself  on  calling  me  and  treating  me  as 
a  brother. 

"  Even  if  the  natives  should  change  their  disposition  and  wish 
to  harm  our  people,  neither  the  King  nor  his  subjects  know  what 
arms  are,  but  go  naked,  as  I  have  said,  and  are  the  most  timid 
people  in  the  world." 

No  stronger  appeal  could  have  been  made  to  the  spirits 
and  passions  of  the  daring  subjects  of  Ferdinand  and  Isa 
bella.  Strange  lands  beyond  an  unknown  sea,  a  child-like 
race  of  defenceless  beings,  gold  thrust  upon  the  newcomer 
by  the  handful,  vast  regions  of  dazzling  wealth  to  be  explored 
and  won.  These  were  no  travellers'  tales,  moreover,  for 
there  were  the  tawny  children  of  the  Indies  following  the 
Admiral  in  his  progress  through  Southern  Spain,  and  with 
them  were  borne  chains  and  ornaments  of  massive  gold, 
birds  of  resplendent  plumage,  beasts  of  unheard-of  shapes, 
and  scores  of  the  curious  products  of  an  unfamiliar  Nature. 
That  were  a  campaign  better  worth  the  waging  to  cavalier 
and  man-at-arms  than  any  offered  in  the  Pyrenees  or  Cala 
bria  ;  and  those  were  fairer  havens  for  the  mariner  to  seek 
than  any  that  lay  within  the  orbit  of  the  Midland  Sea  or 
down  the  parched  shores  of  Western  Africa.  So  there  was 
like  to  be  no  lack  of  men  for  the  return  voyage  to  the  new 
found  Indies. 

In  those  presumably  serener  regions  of  the  Court  where 
Statecraft  waited  upon  Royalty,  the  eager  gratification 
inspired  by  the  news  of  this  latest  acquisition  to  the  grow- 


1 6          THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

ing  power  of  Spain  was  tinctured  with  a  jealous  fear  lest, 
after  all,  the  broad  ducats  which  Castile  had  adventured 
in  the  brilliant  schemes  of  the  Genoese  navigator  had  not 
merely  paved  the  way  for  Portugal  to  reach  the  Orient  by  a 
shorter  route  than  any  heretofore  attempted.  The  rivalry 
between  the  two  nations  of  the  Peninsula,  to  reach  by  sea 
the  countries  of  Prester  John  and  the  Grand  Khan,  dated 
from  early  in  this  century.  Both  competitors  were  ham 
pered  by  the  grave  doubts  which  existed  as  to  just  where  the 
teeming  treasures  of  the  East  were  to  be  found  in  the  bound 
less  expanse  of  ocean  which  lay  outside  the  Straits  of  Gib 
raltar.  No  such  anxiety  had  beset  the  Venetians,  who  had 
thus  far  controlled  the  traffic  with  the  Orient :  their  ships 
sailed  peacefully  down  the  Mediterranean  to  Aleppo  or 
Alexandria  and  there  received  the  precious  bales  which  had 
been  brought  up  the  Persian  Gulf  or  the  Red  Sea.  But  the 
task  set  the  geographers  and  mariners  of  Portugal  and  Spain 
when,  early  in  the  fifteenth  century,  their  sovereigns  deter 
mined  to  explore  the  Western  Ocean,  was  far  more  arduous. 
Had  they  possessed  no  maps  at  all,  it  should  have  been 
easier,  for  such  as  they  had  served  only  to  perpetuate  error 
and  lend  it  a  false  authority.  No  one  knew  whether  lands, 
seas,  or  Chaos  lay  south  of  the  equator.  As  to  the  West, 
there  was  greater  certainty :  out  there  lay  the  Sea  of  Shadows 
and  the  confines  of  Earth  itself.  It  is  to  the  credit  both  of 
monarchs  and  seamen  that  a  beginning  was  ever  made  to 
maritime  discovery  in  the  face  of  the  vast  mass  of  tradi 
tional  terrors  accumulated  in  the  course  of  a  thousand  years 
of  intellectual  stagnation.  But  roving  priests  and  merchants 
told  alluring  tales  of  the  fantastic  wealth  of  Asiatic  and 
African  potentates,  while  Venetians  and  Moors  spread 
through  Spain  and  Portugal  the  love  of  beautiful  things  and 
the  things  themselves,  until  the  western  nations  would  no 
longer  take  their  luxury  at  second  hand  and  resolved  to  seek 
its  source.  There  was  an  East,  beyond  a  peradventure ; 
and  within  its  nebulous  precincts  lay  India  and  Cathay, 
Cipango  and  Ceylon,  and  the  Javas,  —  Major  and  Minor. 
Outside  of  these  great  kingdoms  was  ocean;  therefore, 
since  Venice  commanded  the  only  accessible  routes  by 
land,  by  ocean  must  the  East  be  sought. 


NEW  LANDS  BEYOND    THE   SEA.  \J 

Hence  both  Spanish  and  Portuguese  began  to  grope  out 
side  the  gates  of  the  Mediterranean.  They  followed  naturally 
the  southern  trend  of  the  African  coasts,  blown  sometimes 
far  out  to  sea  by  easterly  gales.  Some  of  the  bolder  souls 
headed  straight  out  into  the  West  in  search  of  the  lost  islands 
of  the  monkish  legends  and  Arab  chronicles.  Thus  the 
Spaniards  sailed  along  the  African  coasts  and  discovered  the 
Canary  Islands;  only  to  be  surpassed  by  the  Portuguese  in 
a  series  of  voyages  which,  for  their  hardihood,  deserve  a 
larger  share  of  popular  fame  than  they  are  likely  to  receive 
in  view  of  the  more  romantic  achievements  which  so  soon 
succeeded  them.  The  Azores,  Madeira,  and  the  Cape  de 
Verd  Islands  were  discovered  and  seized,  and  the  African 
headlands  were  passed  in  succession,  as  voyage  followed 
voyage,  until  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  was  reached  four 
years  before  Columbus  landed  on  San  Salvador.  Here  the 
Portuguese  had  paused,  on  the  very  threshold  of  the  Orient. 
The  merchants  of  Seville  and  Lisbon  maintained  a  certain 
traffic  in  gold  and  negro  slaves  with  the  tribes  of  Guinea 
and  the  Congo,  but  Spain  and  Portugal  alike  were  as  far  as 
ever  from  the  spices  and  priceless  fabrics  of  the  lands  be 
yond  the  Ganges.  Absorbed  in  their  Moorish  wars,  the 
Spaniards  had  all  but  withdrawn  from  the  rivalry,  and  what 
advantage  there  was  thus  far  remained  with  Portugal,  for  she 
established  a  few  forts  along  the  vast  extent  of  the  African 
littoral  and  asserted  a  monopoly  to  all  navigation  in  that 
direction. 

It  was  at  this  juncture  that  Columbus  made  his  notable 
contract  with  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  and  started  westward 
across  the  Ocean  Sea  in  search  of  a  direct  route  to  India. 
He  had,  as  we  know,  taken  part  in  several  voyages  to  the 
Guinea  coasts  under  the  auspices  of  the  Portuguese  Crown, 
and  the  experience  thus  gained  stood  him  in  good  stead  on 
more  than  one  occasion  on  his  own  Discovery.  Familiar 
with  the  aspirations  of  Portugal  in  respect  of  an  indepen 
dent  path  to  the  Indies,  he  had  kept  inflexibly  upon  his  guard, 
when  his  services  were  transferred  to  Spain,  against  the 
treachery  or  subtlety  of  his  quondam  associates.  That  there 
was  need  for  such  caution  was  abundantly  shown  both  on  his 

2 


1 8          THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

outward  voyage,  when  he  had  to  manoeuvre  to  escape  the 
Portuguese  squadron  sent  to  intercept  him  off  the  Canaries, 
and  on  his  return,  when  he  so  narrowly  escaped  seizure  by 
the  Governor  of  the  island  of  Santa  Maria  in  the  Azores. 
A  fortnight  later,  when  the  foundering  "Nina"  staggered 
into  the  Tagus,  and  her  commander  was  received,  as  an 
Admiral  of  Castile  returning  from  the  Indies,  by  the  Port 
uguese  King,  the  latter  was  loth  to  believe  that  the  voyage 
had  been  made  across  the  Western  Ocean  and  plainly  inti 
mated  his  belief  that  Columbus  had  reached  his  goal  by 
sailing  around  Africa.  If  the  new  Admiral  were  telling  the 
truth,  Spain  had  outwitted  Portugal  and  won  the  race  to  the 
Orient.  This  King  John  would  ascertain  for  himself,  and 
meanwhile  do  his  utmost  to  deter  any  more  Spanish  squad 
rons  from  following  up  the  advantage. 

A  hint  of  this  purpose  reached  Columbus  as  he  lay  at 
anchor  in  the  Tagus,  and  he  hastened  to  transmit  it  over 
land  to  his  sovereigns,  while  he  made  all  speed  with  his 
little  ship  from  the  doubtful  safety  of  Lisbon  to  the  surer 
haven  of  Palos.  From  here  he  wrote  again  to  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella  and  received  their  reply  on  reaching  Seville,  as 
he  journeyed  towards  Barcelona  to  make  his  report  in  per 
son  to  the  King  and  Queen.  The  royal  missive  in  one 
paragraph  lauded  the  Admiral's  achievements  in  the  voy 
age  just  finished,  and  in  the  next  urged  him  to  hasten  the 
preparations  for  his  return  to  the  regions  he  had  discovered. 
"  As  you  know, "  his  patrons  wrote,  "  the  summer  has  already 
begun  and,  in  order  that  the  season  for  returning  to  those 
countries  may  not  be  lost,  see  whether  you  can  do  anything 
in  Seville,  or  the  other  places  you  may  visit,  to  advance 
your  return."  No  reference  was  made  to  the  schemes  of 
Portugal;  but  the  omission  did  not  signify  that  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella  were  ignorant  of  or  indifferent  to  them.  They 
had  already  taken  measures  to  meet  any  attempt  at  interfer 
ence  on  the  part  of  their  neighbor  with  a  weapon  whose 
thunder  drowned  that  of  the  loudest  lombards  on  the  Portu 
guese  decks,  —  the  menace  of  St.  Peter. 

The  letters  dispatched  by  Columbus  overland  from  Lis 
bon  could  not  have  reached  the  Court  at  Barcelona  before 


NEW  LANDS  BEYOND    THE   SEA.  19 

the  25th  of  March.  Five  weeks  later,  on  May  2nd,  3rd,  and 
4th,  Pope  Alexander  VI.  issued  at  Rome  his  famous  Bulls 
by  which  all  the  world  which  lay  beyond  a  line  drawn  from 
Pole  to  Pole,  four  hundred  miles  west  of  the  Azores,  "  in 
the  direction  of  India  or  of  whatever  other  parts,"  was 
declared  to  belong  to  the  Spanish  Crown  by  virtue  of  the 
discoveries  made  by  its  Admiral.  The  promulgation  of 
these  formidable  decrees  could  not  be  a  matter  of  indiffer 
ence  to  Portugal,  since  she  held  her  exclusive  right  to  navi 
gate  to  the  eastward  by  a  similar  tenure  granted  in  1471; 
that  is,  "  by  the  authority  of  Almighty  God,  to  us  [the  Pope], 
through  St.  Peter  granted,  and  of  the  Vicariate  of  Jesus 
Christ  which  we  exercise  over  the  Earth."  Consequently 
Portugal,  in  plotting  to  traverse  the  projects  of  Spain  in 
the  West,  was  not  only  incurring  her  wrath  but  that  of  the 
Vatican  as  well,  and,  as  the  Bull  proclaimed,  "the  anger 
of  the  Omnipotent  and  of  the  Blessed  Apostles  Peter  and 
Paul."  The  conjunction  was,  assuredly,  a  sufficiently  threat 
ening  one,  but  King  John  proposed  to  brave  it,  cost  what  it 
might. 

Columbus  himself  reached  Barcelona  about  the  2oth  of 
April;  the  exact  date  is  uncertain.  Las  Casas  tells  us  that, 
after  his  dazzling  reception  by  the  King  and  Queen,  the 
Admiral  was  daily  in  close  consultation  with  their  Majes 
ties,  relating  to  them  all  the  incidents  of  his  explorations, 
informing  them  of  the  natural  resources  of  the  islands 
visited,  and  inspiring  them  with  his  own  enthusiastic  be 
liefs  and  aims  concerning  the  policy  to  be  pursued  in  the 
near  future.  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  entered  into  all  of  his 
plans  with  an  abandon  of  which  we  find  no  other  vestige  in 
the  earlier  or  later  history  of  their  well-regulated  lives, — 
unless  it  be  in  the  zest  with  which  they  maintained  the 
Inquisition.  They  fully  shared  their  Admiral's  confidence 
that  Cuba  and  Hayti  were  within  easy  sail  of  the  Spice 
Islands  and  Cathay,  and  unreservedly  pledged  him  their 
support  in  the  prosecution  of  his  great  project  for  placing 
the  control  of  the  Indian  trade  in  the  hands  of  Spain.  At 
these  conferences  the  details  of  the  comprehensive  scheme 
were  debated  and  adopted,  and  by  the  ist  of  May  all  the 


20          THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

energies  of  the  government  were  engaged  in  the  task  of 
dispatching  an  adequate  armament  to  continue  the  work  so 
auspiciously  begun.  This  second  expedition  was  to  be  no 
mere  handful  of  exploring  caravels.  It  was  to  be  so  consti 
tuted  as  to  provide  for  all  contingencies,  —  to  repel  any 
attempt  that  might  be  made  by  Portugal  to  prevent  its  de 
parture  or  disperse  it  while  on  the  voyage;  to  convey  a 
large  body  of  colonists  to  settle  in  Hispaniola;  to  defend 
the  colonies  thus  established  and  supply  them  with  the 
means  of  communication  with  Spain;  to  continue  the 
work  of  exploration  and  enable  the  Admiral  to  open 
the  coveted  relations  with  the  dominions  of  the  Grand 
Khan;  to  furnish  vessels  for  the  immediate  transportation 
to  Spain  of  the  store  of  gold,  drugs,  and  other  valuable  prod 
ucts  accumulated  by  the  garrison  which  Columbus  had  left, 
for  this  purpose,  at  Navidad  in  King  Guacanagari's  terri 
tory;  and,  finally,  to  determine  the  all-important  question 
as  to  whether  Cuba  was  in  truth  an  island  or  a  part  of  the 
Asiatic  continent. 

While  at  Seville  Columbus  had  set  on  foot  the  prelimi 
naries  of  this  new  undertaking,  and  the  King  and  Queen 
now  associated  with  him  in  the  manifold  preparations  Don 
Juan  de  Fonseca,  archdeacon  of  that  See.  The  choice  of 
Seville  as  a  base  of  operations  was  a  wise  one,  both  because 
of  its  convenient  situation  on  the  Guadalquivir  and  its  long 
established  maritime  commerce.  The  selection  of  Fon 
seca  —  a  crafty  worldling  in  churchly  garb  —  proved  fatal 
to  the  personal  hopes  and  ambitions  of  his  colleague.  In 
all  that  related  to  this  second  voyage,  however,  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella  deferred  to  Columbus  to  a  degree  little  less 
than  amazing.  It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  —  for  scores  of 
documents  prove  it  —  that  his  wish  was  absolute  law.  Those 
who  disputed  or  opposed  it  were  promptly  called  to  account 
by  sharp  personal  letters  from  the  King  and  Queen.  In  no 
instance,  at  this  period,  do  we  find  the  Churchman  supported 
as  against  the  Admiral.  On  the  contrary,  he  was  often 
made  by  the  sovereigns,  in  no  gentle  terms,  to  yield  to  his 
colleague's  preferences.  Later  on,  he  had  his  revenge.1 

1  "This  Don  Juan  de  Fonseca,"  says  Las  Casas,  who  knew  him  thor 
oughly,  "  although  a  priest  and  an  archdeacon,  and,  after  the  sovereigns 


NEW  LANDS  BEYOND    THE   SEA.  21 

Columbus  and  Fonseca  were  instructed  by  their  sover 
eigns  primarily  "  to  prepare  a  fleet  to  go  to  the  Indies,  both 
to  conquer  and  to  take  possession  of  the  islands  and  main 
land  l  already  seized  in  our  name,  as  well  as  to  seek  out 
others."  To  this  end  they  were  directed  to  visit  "Seville, 
Cadiz,  and  whatever  other  cities,  towns,  places,  and  ports 
in  Andalusia  they  might  think  convenient,"  and  there 
charter  or  buy  any  and  all  vessels,  of  whatever  class,  which 
Columbus  should  select  as  desirable  for  his  purpose.  The 
authorities  all  along  that  seaboard  were,  by  name,  required 
to  assist  them  in  obtaining  such  vessels  and  in  manning  and 
equipping  them.  Columbus  himself  was  charged  to  take 
only  the  best  craft  obtainable,  and  to  pick  his  pilots  and 
crews  from  among  those  "  who  best  knew  their  profession 
and  were  most  trustworthy." 

Scarcely  had  these  first  orders  been  issued  when  definite 
news  was  received  that  the  apprehended  interference  of 
Portugal  was  about  to  take  shape.  From  his  seaport  of 
Santa  Maria  in  Andalusia,  the  Duke  of  Medina  Sidonia, 
one  of  the  most  powerful  of  the  Spanish  grandees,  wrote 
to  the  King  and  Queen,  warning  them  that  King  John  was 
actually  preparing  a  fleet  to  send  out  into  "  those  parts  of 
the  Ocean  Sea  which  have  just  been  discovered  by  the 
Admiral  Don  Christopher  Columbus,"  and  placing  his  im 
mense  influence  and  resources  at  the  service  of  their  Majes 
ties  to  thwart  the  efforts  of  their  rival.  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella  hastened  to  thank  the  Duke,  their  "dear  cousin," 
calling  upon  him  to  make  ready  all  the  caravels  of  his  dis 
trict  to  be  used  in  case  of  emergency,  and  instantly  redoubled 
their  efforts  to  dispatch  Columbus  and  his  fleet.  The  royal 
secretaries  were  overtasked  with  the  multitude  of  decrees, 

had  given  him  charge  of  the  Indies,  bishop  of  Badajoz  and  Palencia, 
and  finally  of  Burgos,  where  he  died,  was  very  capable  in  worldly  affairs, 
particularly  in  recruiting  military  men  for  naval  armaments,  —  which 
was  rather  a  business  for  Basques  than  for  bishops.  For  this  reason, 
as  long  as  they  lived,  their  Majesties  always  entrusted  him  with  the 
preparation  of  the  expeditions  they  sent  to  sea." 

1  This  "mainland"  was  Cuba;  Columbus,  after  no  little  hesitation, 
having  leaned  at  last  to  the  belief  that  no  island  could  be  so  vast  as  he 
then  believed  Cuba  to  be. 


22          THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

letters,  and  rescripts  which  flowed  from  the  almost  frantic 
zeal  of  their  sovereigns.  The  treasurers  of  the  various  royal 
funds,  the  authorities  of  cities  and  provinces,  the  comptrol 
lers  of  the  finances,  officials  military,  ecclesiastical,  and  civil, 
diplomats  and  merchants,  —  all  in  turn  were  assailed  with 
orders,  entreaties,  or  remonstrances,  as  the  case  demanded. 
The  archives  of  the  period  teem  with  documents  testifying 
to  the  extreme  activity  which  suddenly  permeated  every 
branch  of  government,  and  to  the  thoroughness  with  which 
the  Crown  sought  to  provide  for  the  safe  execution  of  its 
plans  in  face  of  the  danger  confronting  them. 

An  immense  store  of  provisions  and  wine  was  accumu 
lated  at  Seville,  sufficient  to  last  throughout  the  voyage  and 
to  maintain  the  proposed  colonies  in  Hispaniola  pending 
the  arrival  of  later  shipments.  Great  quantities  of  trinkets 
for  barter  with  the  natives  were  purchased,  —  beads,  bells, 
scissors,  glass,  needles,  strap-iron,  and  such  like.  Seeds 
and  plants  for  the  use  of  the  colonists;  cattle,  horses,  and 
fowls  for  breeding;  building  materials,  ship-stores,  artisans' 
and  armorers'  tools  and  supplies,  miners'  implements,  and 
clothing,  —  everything,  in  short,  likely  to  be  needed  for 
establishing  and  maintaining  a  considerable  settlement  in 
a  savage  country  was  provided  in  abundance.  To  aid  in 
supporting  the  colony  a  party  of  skilled  field  laborers  was 
to  be  taken  along,  selected  from  those  who  were  familiar 
with  the  work  of  breaking  and  tilling  new  lands,  and  to 
them  was  added  a  man  expert  in  the  construction  of  the 
irrigating  ditches  so  important  to  Spanish  agriculture. 
No  doubt  crossed  the  mind  of  King,  Admiral,  or  officials 
that  ere  long  the  colonies  would  be  in  touch  with  the  over 
flowing  marts  of  Cathay  and  Cipango;  but,  until  such  direct 
communication  were  opened,  it  was  known  that  the  Span 
ish  settlers  and  explorers  would  be  dependent  upon  the 
home  country  for  the  satisfaction  of  their  needs. 

For  their  protection  and  defence  an  equal  care  was  shown. 
The  magazines  of  Malaga  were  drawn  on  for  fifty  sets  of 
armor,  together  with  as  many  arquebuses  and  cross-bows. 
The  chief  of  artillery  at  Seville  was  ordered  to  furnish  all 
the  lombards  needed,  with  their  supply  of  powder  and  stone 


NEW  LANDS  BEYOND    THE   SEA.  23 

shot.  The  famous  Hermandad,  or  Holy  Brotherhood,  which 
had  been  organized  to  act  as  a  mounted  police  in  the 
troublous  times  of  the  Moorish  wars,  was  required  to  supply 
twenty  men-at-arms,  with  their  mounts,  picked  from  the 
veteran  scouts  and  guerillas  of  the  Granadan  frontiers  and 
practised  in  the  border  tactics  of  the  wily  Moors.  The 
duty  of  this  corps  in  the  Indies,  it  was  stated,  should  be 
"to  search  the  country;  beause  they,  in  a  short  time,  will 
know  how  to  do  this  better  than  any  others."  Only  those 
who  should  offer  to  go  "with  a  good  will "  were  to  be  ac 
cepted;  but,  to  make  assurance  doubly  sure,  Villalva,  the 
Inspector  of  the  Brotherhood,  was  ordered  to  conduct  his 
troopers  to  Seville  and  not  leave  them  until  they  were  safely 
on  board  the  ships. 

The  number  of  men  of  all  kinds  —  volunteers,  colonists, 
and  officials  —  allowed  to  sail  was  originally  fixed  at  one 
thousand.  The  difficulty  was  not  to  find  these,  but  rather 
to  choose  from  the  multitude  which  offered,  and  the  pres 
sure  finally  became  so  great  that  the  number  was  increased 
to  twelve  hundred.  All  of  these  were  entitled  to  draw 
rations  from  the  government  stores  and  to  receive  a 
stipend,  varying  with  their  rank.  It  soon  became  appar 
ent  that  the  cost  of  the  enterprise  would  be  enormous;  but 
for  once  the  frugal  caution  of  Ferdinand  and  his  consort 
was  laid  aside,  in  consideration  of  the  brilliant  prospect 
of  immediate  aggrandizement.  The  royal  treasury  was  at 
its  lowest  ebb,  and  resort  was  had  to  various  shifts  for  the 
indispensable  ways  and  means.  The  Holy  Brotherhood  was 
asked  to  find  15,000  ducats,  or  nearly  6,000,000  maravedies, 
towards  meeting  the  expense.  The  special  tax  of  the  tercia, 
levied  originally  for  the  conquest  of  Granada,  was  contin 
ued  or  revived  to  provide  another  part.  Still  a  third  source 
of  funds  was  the  confiscated  wealth  of  the  recently  expelled 
Jews.  Candor  compels  the  admission  that  most  of  the 
money  embarked  in  this  armada  for  the  acquisition  and 
settlement  of  the  future  America  was  stained  with  the 
grime  of  extortion;  but  little  of  that  in  circulation  at  the 
time  was  free  from  a  like  imputation.  Whatever  their 
origin,  the  millions  of  maravedies  expended  on  the  expe- 


24          THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

dition  were  hardly  raised  and  their  disbursement  was  cor 
respondingly  scrutinized.  The  precautions  taken  by  the 
Crown  to  ensure  a  legitimate  distribution  of  its  supplies  of 
cash  speak  well  for  the  business  methods  of  the  govern 
ment,  or  ill  for  the  honesty  of  its  servants,  as  we  may 
choose  to  interpret  them.  In  the  instructions  issued  to 
Columbus  and  Fonseca  great  stress  was  laid  upon  the 
necessity  of  registering  before  notaries  public  all  contracts 
and  engagements  entered  into,  and  Juan  de  Soria,  of  their 
Majesties'  household,  was  named  to  have  the  supervision 
of  all  outlays.  Francisco  Pinelo,  one  of  the  royal  treas 
urers,  was  directed  to  keep  a  minute  account  of  the  ex 
penses,  and  a  detail  of  accountants  was  made  to  go  out  to 
Hispaniola  to  establish  there  a  similarly  rigid  system  of 
book-keeping.  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  had  already  issued 
a  decree  forbidding  any  one  to  make  a  voyage  to  the  new 
found  Indies  without  their  express  sanction,  and  they  now 
proclaimed  that  all  traffic  with  those  lands  was  a  monopoly 
of  the  Crown,  and  that  no  one  sailing  on  this  fleet  was  to 
carry  with  him  any  article  of  barter  whatever.  To  ensure 
compliance  with  this  order,  Soria  was  required  to  put 
under  oath  every  soul  who  should  embark,  and  register 
each  and  every  article  they  possessed.  In  the  event  of 
their  attempting  to  evade  the  law  on  reaching  Hispaniola, 
their  property  was  to  be  confiscated. 

All  of  these  measures,  and  many  others  relating  to  de 
tails,  were  planned  and  authorized  during  the  month  of 
May,  while  Columbus  was  still  with  the  Court  at  Barcelona. 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella  hoped  to  have  everything  in  readi 
ness  so  that  the  fleet  might  sail  by  the  i5th  of  July,  and 
they  consequently  desired  that  Columbus  should  be  enabled 
to  leave  the  Court  at  the  earliest  date  practicable  and  to 
give  his  personal  attention  to  the  execution  of  the  elabo 
rate  preparations.  As  soon,  therefore,  as  the  royal  orders 
and  decrees  relating  to  the  equipment  of  the  fleet  had  all 
been  issued,  the  King  and  Queen  proceeded  to  fulfil  their 
promises  of  reward  and  honor  to  the  man  who  had  brought 
them  these  boundless  possessions.  A  resplendent  coat-of- 
arms  was  bestowed  upon  the  Admiral,  whereon  the  castles 


NEW  LANDS  BEYOND    THE   SEA.  2$ 

and  lions  of  the  royal  escutcheon  were  quartered  with  three 
anchors  and  seven  islands,  indicative  of  the  profession  and 
discoveries  of  the  new  grandee.  One  thousand  ducats  were 
paid  him  as  a  largess,  besides  the  pension  awarded  him  for 
first  having  espied  the  land,  or,  to  be  more  exact,  the  light 
thereon.  Of  greater  moment  was  the  solemn  confirmation 
to  him  and  his  heirs  of  the  titles  and  prerogatives  pledged 
to  him,  under  the  agreement  of  April  30th,  1492,  in  the 
event  of  his  discovering  the  "islands  and  mainland" 
beyond  the  Ocean  Sea.  He  had  performed  his  part  of  the 
contract,  and  had  petitioned  the  sovereigns  to  comply  with 
theirs.  This  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  accordingly  pro 
ceeded  to  do,  —  so  far,  at  least,  as  the  handsome  engross 
ing  of  parchments  went.  Perhaps  they  really  intended, 
at  that  time,  to  keep  their  engagements  with  the  Admiral. 
He  certainly  was  justified  in  thinking  so  when  he  read  the 
text  of  their  solemn  ratification  of  their  pledges  of  the  year 
before.  The  document  was  dated  on  the  28th  of  May,  and 
began  with  this  comprehensive  invocation :  "  In  the  name 
of  the  Holy  Trinity  and  Eternal  Unity,  Father,  Son,  and 
Holy  Spirit;  and  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  the  Glorious  St. 
Mary,  Our  Lady;  and  of  the  Blessed  Apostle  St.  James, 
Light  and  Mirror  of  All  Spain,  Patron  and  Guide  of  the 
Sovereigns  of  Castile  and  Leon;  and  of  all  the  other 
Saints,  Male  and  Female,  in  the  Courts  of  Heaven."  Hav 
ing  summoned  this  cloud  of  witnesses  to  attest  their  sin 
cerity  and  earnestness,  the  King  and  Queen,  "considering 
the  risk  and  danger  in  which,  for  our  benefit,  you  [Colum 
bus]  placed  yourself  in  going  to  search  for  and  to  discover 
these  islands,  and  also  that  in  which  you  are  now  placing 
yourself  in  going  to  seek  other  islands  and  the  mainland," 
confirmed  to  Columbus  and  to  his  "  sons,  descendants,  and 
successors,  one  after  the  other  and  for  all  future  time,  the 
stipulated  offices  of  Admiral  of  the  Ocean  Sea  and  Viceroy 
and  Governor  of  the  islands  and  mainland  which  you  have 
discovered,  and  of  the  other  islands  and  mainland  which 
by  you,  or  through  your  labors,  shall  be  hereafter  discov 
ered  in  the  direction  of  the  Indies."  These  were  far  from 
empty  honors,  for  the  same  instrument  guaranteed  to 


26          THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

Columbus  and  his  heirs,  for  ever  and  ever,  "  all  the  pre 
rogatives,  distinctions,  rights,  and  salaries  "  enjoyed  by  the 
Admirals  of  Castile  and  Leon,  and,  within  the  unmarked 
limits  of  his  new  vice-kingdom,  absolute  jurisdiction  with 
out  appeal  in  all  causes,  civil  as  well  as  criminal,  with 
power  to  issue  writs  and  decrees  in  the  name  of  the  King 
and  Queen,  and  to  use  the  royal  seal. 

Well  might  Columbus  feel  secure  when  the  rubrics  of  his 
sovereigns  were  attached  to  this  weighty  instrument,  and 
jealously  might  he  guard  it  throughout  his  life;  for  he,  at 
least,  had  some  approximate  realization  of  the  vast  power 
and  profit  which  it  involved.  Considered  in  its  purely 
commercial  aspect,  it  assured  to  him  one-tenth  of  all  the 
products  of  the  lands  discovered  either  directly  by  him  or 
through  his  instrumentality,  besides  the  right  of  trading 
on  his  personal  account  to  the  extent  of  one-eighth  of  the 
entire  future  commerce  between  Spain  and  whatever  do 
minions  should  become  hers  in  the  New  World.  Just  what 
these  dominions  might  be,  or  what  the  import  of  their 
possible  traffic  with  Spain,  was  of  course  problematical; 
but  it  is  idle  to  claim  that  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  two  of 
the  most  astute  —  not  to  say  of  the  craftiest  —  monarchs  in 
Christendom,  did  not  realize  what  they  were  doing  when 
they  conferred  these  broad  powers  and  great  privileges  upon 
their  Admiral.  They,  as  well  as  he,  believed  that  he  had 
reached  the  eastern  confines  of  Asia  on  his  first  voyage; 
they,  as  well  as  he,  knew  that  this  second  fleet  now  prepar 
ing  was  destined  for  the  establishment  of  a  permanent 
trade  with  the  realms  of  the  Grand  Khan  and  the  kings  of 
the  Orient,  if  not  for  their  conquest,  — with  those  very  prov 
inces  and  islands  whose  fabulous  wealth  had  excited  the 
cupidity  of  Spanish  and  Portuguese  alike  for  nearly  a  cen 
tury  past.  The  bargain  was,  if  anything,  unduly  favorable 
to  the  Crown.  "Win  for  us  a  short  road  to  that  dazzling 
East,  wherever  it  maybe,"  the  monarchs  had,  in  effect,  said 
to  the  Genoese  sailor,  "and  we  will  do  thus  and  so  for 
you."  They  shared  with  him  the  belief  that  the  East  had 
been  reached,  and  in  reserving  for  themselves  seven-eighths 
of  the  commerce  with  what  they  thought  was  the  Asiatic 


NEW  LANDS  BEYOND    THE   SEA.  27 

continent  and  the  Celebes,  and  nine-tenths  of  the  revenue 
from  those  regions,  they  were,  the  impartial  observer  would 
think,  amply  providing  for  their  own  compensation. 

In  addition  to  this  confirmation  of  his  rank  and  privi 
leges,  Columbus  also  received  at  this  time  from  their 
Majesties  his  commission  as  Captain-General  of  the  fleet 
which  was  fitting  out,  a  letter  of  instructions  for  the  con 
duct  of  the  enterprise,  and  several  decrees  relating  to  de 
tails  for  the  administration  of  the  proposed  colonies.  We 
shall  look  in  vain  through  the  annals  of  far  more  arbitrary 
governments  than  was  that  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  with 
out  rinding  wider  powers  granted  to  favorite  minister  or 
successful  courtier  than  those  now  bestowed  upon  this  un 
tried  Viceroy.  A  scant  year  before  he  was  a  penniless 
pensioner  of  the  rulers  who  now  transferred  to  him  the 
most  jealously  guarded  prerogatives  of  royalty.  Not  con 
tent  with  conferring  upon  him  the  unrestrained  power  to 
dispose,  without  exception,  of  the  lives  and  property  of 
their  future  subjects  beyond  the  sea,  the  Spanish  monarchs 
voluntarily  surrendered  the  right  of  veto  which,  in  the 
original  contract,  they  had  reserved  over  all  the  appoint 
ments  made  by  Columbus,  and  now  granted  him  authority 
to  make  such  directly.  Moreover,  they  empowered  him, 
"in  the  event  of  it  proving  desirable  for  him  to  go  in 
search  of  other  islands  and  the  mainland  "  after  the  colony 
was  established  in  Hispaniola,  to  appoint  a  deputy  or 
lieutenant  armed  with  all  his  authority,  even  to  the  use  of 
the  royal  seal  entrusted  to  the  Viceroy  himself.  In  short, 
beyond  the  Ocean  Sea,  Columbus  was  to  stand  for  the 
Crown,  untrammelled,  absolute,  and  irresponsible. 

There  seems  to  be  no  doubt  that  Ferdinand  and  Isabella 
realized  that  the  conditions  of  a  government  established 
over  the  unknown  races  of  a  remote  and  isolated  territory, 
where  all  was  as  yet  pure  matter  of  conjecture,  differed  so 
essentially  from  those  of  a  European  province  or  princi 
pality  that  true  policy  demanded  a  rigid  abstention  from 
all  interference  by  the  Crown.  Had  they  pursued  this  con 
viction  with  fidelity,  the  subsequent  history  of  their  Admiral 
and  his  vice-kingdom  would  have  been  far  different;  but 


28          THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

even  at  this  early  date,  when  their  confidence  in  him  knew 
no  bounds,  and  when  each  day  bore  witness  to  their  desire 
to  sustain  him  in  every  action,  the  force  of  habit  imperiously 
asserted  itself,  and  some  order  or  nomination  would  issue 
to  controvert  the  wise  system  so  laboriously  established  on 
scores  of  parchments.  Many  of  the  royal  dependants  were  ap 
pointed  as  inspectors,  comptrollers,  notaries,  supercargoes, 
and  to  similar  offices  of  trust  and  responsibility.  Thus, 
one  Alonso  de  Acosta  was  sent  out  as  captain  of  a  ship, 
with  the  position  of  alguazil,  or  justice,  assured  him  upon 
reaching  the  Indies.  Bernal  de  Pisa  was  to  be  chief  lieu 
tenant  to  the  comptrollers  of  accounts  in  Hispaniola,  and 
was  furnished  by  the  King  and  Queen  with  detailed  instruc 
tions  as  to  his  proceedings  when  there.  Diego  Marquez 
was  to  go  as  Inspector  for  the  Crown.  Sebastian  de  Olano 
was  sent  to  Columbus  as  their  Majesties'  choice  for  the 
Receiver-General  of  the  Indies,  and  the  Admiral  was  asked 
to  take  good  care  of  him  and  the  officers  who  accompanied 
him.  Juan  de  Aguado  was  to  go  with  the  fleet,  at  her 
Majesty's  express  desire,  in  any  capacity  which  should 
offer.  "I  wish  to  have  him  well  treated,"  wrote  Isabella 
to  Columbus,  "  as  he  is  my  servant  and  has  been  of  much 
use  to  me.  Give  him  some  good  office  in  the  expedition, 
where  he  may  advance  my  interests  and  receive  some  bene 
fit  as  well."  All  of  these  were  Court  officials, —  gentlemen 
in  waiting,  chamberlains,  ushers,  and  the  like, — but  the 
appointments  were  not  confined  to  the  positions  of  less 
degree.  Francisco  de  Penalosa  and  Alonso  de  Vallejo,  cap 
tains  of  the  royal  guards,  were  sent  to  command  some  of 
the  anticipated  military  operations;  Dr.  Chanca,  one  of  the 
Queen's  own  physicians,  was  selected  as  surgeon-in-chief 
to  the  Admiral;  and  last,  but  chief  of  all,  Fray  Boil,  a 
Benedictine  monk,  and  eleven  fellow  clerics,  were  chosen 
to  go  with  the  fleet  in  order  to  gather  the  hordes  of  Asia 
into  the  fold  of  the  Church.  Surely  herein  lay  all  the  ele 
ments  needed  for  conspiracy  and  rebellion,  should  any 
plotter  ever  attempt  to  sow  discord  between  the  officials 
who  held  their  appointments  direct  from  the  Crown  and 
those  who  owed  their  advancement  to  the  brand-new  Vice- 


NEW  LANDS  BEYOND    THE   SEA.  29 

roy.  All  that  was  needed  was  distance  and  discontent,  and 
Time  might  safely  be  trusted  to  furnish  these.  It  is  true 
that  not  all  of  the  nominees  of  the  King  and  Queen  were 
obnoxious  to  Columbus,  and  that  when  he  objected  his  com 
plaint  was  heeded.  That  Rodrigo  Sanchez,  of  Segovia, 
whom  we  have  seen  keeping  watch  with  Columbus  on  the 
fateful  night  in  October  the  year  before,  when  the  moon 
shone  on  the  sands  of  Guanahani,  had  been  proposed  by  their 
Majesties  to  accompany  the  Admiral  on  this  second  voyage 
as  an  officer  of  the  Crown.  Columbus  represented  that  for 
certain  causes  he  was  not  on  good  terms  with  Sanchez,  and 
immediately  orders  were  issued  that  the  latter  was  not  to 
be  permitted  to  go  upon  any  consideration,  even  should  it 
be  necessary  to  reimburse  him  for  the  outlays  already  made 
in  anticipation  of  the  voyage.1  Moreover,  the  royal  man 
date  ran,'  "We  do  not  wish  that  any  one  with  whom  the 
Admiral  has  any  grievance  should  go. "  Doubtless  the  King 
and  Queen  were  as  ready  to  withdraw  any  of  their  presenta 
tions  as  this  one;  but  it  was  not  in  the  Admiral's  power  to 
scrutinize  them  all,  even  had  he  been  willing  to  oppose  the 
repeated  expressions  of  his  sovereigns'  preference,  and  thus 
were  sown  the  seeds  of  dissension  and  disaster. 

The  letter  of  instructions  delivered  to  Columbus  on  the 
eve  of  his  departure  from  the  Court  was  a  singular  com 
pound  of  pious  bigotry  and  worldly  prudence.  When  we 
recall  the  fact  that  it  was  intended  to  provide  for  the  sub 
jugation  and  administration  of  the  empires  of  Eastern  Asia, 
we  cannot  but  admire  the  colossal  confidence  of  the  Span 
ish  monarchs  both  in  themselves  and  their  Viceroy.  The 
first  care  was,  ostensibly,  for  the  natives  of  the  countries  it 
was  proposed  to  colonize.  These,  it  was  declared,  were  to 

1  This  Rodrigo  Sanchez  was  the  royal  inspector  on  the  first  voyage, 
and  one  of  the  two  persons  to  whom  Columbus  appealed  when  he  saw 
the  light  early  on  the  night  on  which  Guanahani  was  seen.  The  King 
and  Queen  had  his  report  before  them  when  they  adjudged  the  reward 
to  Columbus  for  having  observed  the  light  four  hours  before  Juan 
Bermejo  saw  the  moonlit  sands.  In  view  of  the  persistent  effort  which 
has  been  made  to  show  that  Columbus  defrauded  this  "poor  sailor," 
the  fact  that  the  Inspector,  though  not  the  Admiral's  friend,  did  not 
dispute  the  justice  of  his  claim,  is  not  without  significance. 


30          THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

be  converted  by  the  labors  of  Father  Boil  and  his  associ 
ates,  assisted  by  some  of  the  Indians  who  had  returned  with 
Columbus  from  the  first  voyage  and  were  now  somewhat 
instructed  both  in  the  religion  of  Rome  and  the  language 
of  Castile.  "All  who  sail  in  the  armada,"  their  Majesties 
insisted,  "  and  all  who  shall  go  from  here  in  the  future,  are 
to  treat  the  said  Indians  very  well  and  tenderly,  without 
giving  them  any  offence  whatever,  endeavoring  to  establish 
close  companionship  and  acquaintance  with  them  and  doing 
them  the  best  offices  possible.  And  the  said  Admiral  shall 
freely  give  them  various  presents  from  the  articles  of  mer 
chandise  belonging  to  the  Crown,  which  are  taken  along  for 
purposes  of  traffic,  and  shall  do  them  much  honor.  And 
if  any  one  shall  ill-treat  the  said  Indians,  the  Admiral,  as 
Viceroy  and  Governor,  shall  severely  chastise  the  offender, 
in  virtue  of  the  powers  vested  in  him."  Ecclesiastics  and 
laymen  alike  were  to  endeavor  to  convert  them,  or,  rather, 
since  the  Admiral  had  reported  that  they  had  no  religion  at 
all,  to  instil  into  their  minds  the  principles  of  Christianity. 
"And  because  spiritual  affairs  cannot  endure  for  long 
without  temporal  ones,"  sagaciously  proceeded  this  docu 
ment,  sundry  regulations  were  laid  down  for  the  Admiral's 
guidance  in  the  government  of  his  viceregal  charge.  These 
relate  to  the  prevention  of  all  traffic  except  for  account  of 
the  Crown;  to  the  keeping  exact  accounts  for  all  arms, 
provisions,  munitions,  and  merchandise;  to  the  establish 
ing  a  judiciary  and  police;  to  the  forms  to  be  employed 
in  decrees  and  official  acts;  to  the  institution  of  a  custom 
house  and  the  collection  of  the  revenue,  and  to  other  details 
of  the  kind.  Two  measures  embraced  in  these  instructions 
are  worthy  of  note.  The  first  implied  that  some  apprehen 
sion  already  existed  of  future  insubordination  on  the  part  of 
the  ill-disposed,  once  the  restraining  influences  of  the  home 
government  were  left  behind;  for  explicit  orders  were  given 
that  if  the  Admiral,  after  reaching  Hispaniola,  should  send 
any  ships  upon  voyages  of  discovery  or  trade,  their  cap 
tains  and  crews  were  to  obey  him  implicitly,  upon  pain  of 
such  punishment  as  he  should  choose  to  administer  upon 
their  persons  or  goods.  The  other  defined  distinctly  the 


NEW  LANDS  BEYOND    THE   SEA.  31 

portion  to  be  received  by  Columbus  in  the  profits  of  the 
Indies.  "The  Admiral  is  to  receive  the  one-eighth  part," 
recites  the  letter,  "of  everything  that  may  be  obtained  in 
gold  and  other  products  in  the  islands  and  mainland,  he  to 
pay  one-eighth  of  the  cost  of  the  merchandise  employed  in 
such  commerce;  first  deducting  the  one-tenth  part  of  the 
profit  which  the  Admiral  is  to  receive  in  the  manner  estab 
lished  by  the  contract  which  their  Majesties  caused  to  be 
executed  with  the  said  Admiral."  It  is  difficult  to  see  how 
any  contention  could  arise  as  to  the  meaning  of  this  oft- 
repeated  engagement,  or  why  it  should  have  been  reiter 
ated,  in  season  and  out  of  season,  if  their  Majesties 
intended  to  ignore  it  at  the  first  convenient  opportunity. 

The  delivery  of  these  instructions  completed  the  prelim 
inary  arrangements,  so  far  as  they  could  be  ordered  from  a 
distance.  With  a  mind  at  ease  concerning  the  dispositions 
already  made  for  the  success  of  his  approaching  voyage, 
with  a  complete  understanding  established  between  his  sov 
ereigns  and  himself  regarding  the  conduct  of  affairs  in  the 
Indies,  and  with  their  solemn  guarantee  of  the  honors  and 
rewards  which  were  his  due  in  virtue  of  the  faithful  per 
formance  of  his  gigantic  undertaking,  Columbus  took  leave 
of  the  King  and  Queen  and  set  out  for  Seville,  accompanied 
beyond  the  gates  of  Barcelona  by  the  whole  ceremonious 
Court. 


II. 

FOUNDING   THE    GREAT   MONOPOLY. 

THE  second  day  after  leaving  Barcelona  Columbus  heard 
that  the  King  of  Portugal  had  despatched  certain  cara 
vels  from  Lisbon,  presumably  with  the  intention  of  seeking 
the  Indies  discovered  by  the  Spanish  ships  the  year  before. 
These  tidings  he  at  once  transmitted  to  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella,  and  received  as  promptly  a  reply  by  courier  say 
ing  that  the  news  "agrees  with  what  we  know  here,"  and 
asking  to  be  advised  in  good  season  of  whatever  else  he 
might  learn.  The  rumor  served  to  quicken  the  anxiety  of  the 
King  and  Queen  that  their  fleet  should  set  sail  before  King 
John's  captains  succeeded  in  finding  their  way  across  the 
Western  Ocean.  Shortly  after  Columbus  had  arrived  at 
Court  in  April  and  reported  his  conversation  with  the  King 
of  Portugal,  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  had  sent  an  ambassa 
dor  to  demand  from  their  royal  brother  a  declaration  of 
his  intentions  with  regard  to  the  discoveries  made  by  their 
Admiral.  This  emissary  returned  to  Barcelona  a  few  days 
after  Columbus  had  started  from  Seville,  bringing  assur 
ances  from  King  John  that  his  only  desire  was  that  "  each 
Crown  should  hold  what  belongs  to  it  ";  but  the  ambiguous 
reply  only  increased  the  suspicions  of  Ferdinand,  and  he 
sent  another  messenger  after  Columbus,  urging  him  to  make 
haste  to  sail  at  an  early  date.  "If  you  can  start  the 
sooner,"  continued  the  letter,  "by  leaving  some  of  the  ships 
behind  for  the  present  and  taking  fewer  people  with  you 
than  was  first  proposed,  do  as  you  think  best;  but  if  you 
have  cause  to  doubt  the  sincerity  of  the  King  of  Portugal, 
32 


FOUNDING    7^HE    GREAT  MONOPOLY.  33 

be  sure  and  take  them  all."  This  new  doubt  which  had 
arisen  called  for  extreme  precautions, —  the  possibility  of 
a  collision  occurring,  either  in  the  Indies  or  on  the  way 
thither,  between  the  force  commanded  by  Columbus  and 
that  believed  to  be  sent  out  by  King  John.  At  any  cost 
Spain  was  determined  to  retain  the  fruits  of  her  Admiral's 
boldness  and  sagacity,  and  the  correspondence  between 
the  sovereigns  and  Columbus  began  to  assume  a  distinctly 
warlike  tone. 

The  weeks,  however,  passed  without  further  alarms. 
Columbus  reached  Seville,  visited  the  neighboring  sea 
ports  to  choose  his  ships  and  their  crews,  and  infused  into 
all  of  the  preparations  something  of  his  wonted  energy  and 
enthusiasm.  Still  the  day  set  for  his  departure,  the  15111 
of  July,  arrived  and  there  was  no  prospect  of  the  fleet  get 
ting  away.  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  wrote  to  Fonseca, 
urging  him  to  hasten  its  sailing  by  all  practicable  means. 
If,  they  wrote,  the  delay  was  due  to  the  Admiral's  desire 
to  assemble  an  armament  capable  of  holding  its  own  with 
the  Portuguese  in  case  of  an  encounter,  let  him  sail  at 
once  with  what  he  had  ready,  and  Fonseca  could  remain 
in  Seville  and  prepare  another  fleet  to  send  after  the 
Admiral  to  reenforce  him.  Columbus  leaned  strongly 
towards  some  such  plan  as  that  attributed  to  him  by  the 
sovereigns.  From  Cordova,  where  he  had  gone  to  visit 
his  family  and  inspect  the  supplies  gathered  at  that  depot 
for  the  expedition,  he  had  written  to  the  King  and  Queen 
suggesting  that  King  John  was  holding  back  the  Portuguese 
squadron  in  order  to  let  the  Spaniards  sail  first,  intending 
to  follow  them  and  come  to  an  engagement  whenever 
occasion  might  serve.  To  provide  for  such  a  contingency, 
the  Admiral  proposed  that  more  strength  be  given  to  the 
military  side  of  this  expedition.  He  asked  their  Majes 
ties  that  the  magazines  of  Granada  and  Malaga  might  be 
drawn  upon  for  a  larger  equipment  of  artillery,  armor,  and 
ammunition  than  had  been  provided,  and  that  competent 
leaders  might  be  ordered  to  accompany  him.  In  especial 
he  repeated  a  suggestion  already  made  at  Barcelona,  that 
Melchor  Maldonado,  who  had,  some  five  years  before,  suc- 

3 


34          THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

cessfully  directed  the  expedition  sent  by  Spain  to  the  as 
sistance  of  her  ally,  the  King  of  Naples,  should  go  to  the 
Indies  in  command  of  the  troops.  He  also  urged  another 
measure  which  had  been  broached  at  Court,  namely,  that 
the  formidable  squadron  known  as  the  "Galician,"  from 
the  province  where  it  had  been  organized,  should  be 
detached  from  its  coast  duty  and  ordered  to  make  part  of 
his  fleet.  This  squadron  consisted  of  five  warships,  — 
the  largest  of  them  having  a  burthen  of  1200  tons,  — was 
commanded  by  Inigo  de  Artieta,  a  notable  captain  of  the 
time,  and  was  manned  by  900  sturdy  Basques  who,  like  all 
true  Celts,  took  a  greater  delight  in  fighting  than  in  peace. 
The  vessels  were  too  deep  and  the  crews  too  turbulent  to 
be  of  use  in  colonizing  or  exploring  the  regions  overseas, 
but  if  blows  were  to  be  struck,  Inigo  and  his  swarthy  Bis- 
cayans  were  likely  to  prove  an  invincible  escort.  To  most 
of  these  suggestions  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  replied  with 
a  ready  affirmative;  but  they  repeated  insistently  their 
recommendation  that  Columbus  hasten  his  departure  at  all 
costs.  They  assured  him  that  Fonseca  had  orders  to  ascer 
tain  the  preparations  making  by  King  John,  and  to  arm 
and  send  after  Columbus,  in  case  of  necessity,  a  fleet  to 
support  him  which  should  be  at  least  twice  as  large  as 
any  of  the  Portuguese  should  equip.  Nevertheless,  they 
ordered  Melchor  Maldonado  to  join  the  Admiral  at  Seville, 
despite  the  valiant  warrior's  plea  that  serious  impediments 
prevented  his  making  the  voyage.  "We  should  gladly 
excuse  you,"  wrote  his  amiable  sovereigns,  "but  your 
going  will  greatly  serve  us,  since  you  are  who  you  are; 
therefore  do  we  command  you  to  go  to  the  islands  with 
Don  Christopher  Columbus."  Orders  were  likewise  de 
spatched  to  the  Galician  fleet,  which  was  lying  in  the  port 
of  Bermeo  on  the  Bay  of  Biscay,  to  sail  around  the  coasts 
of  the  Peninsula  and  report  to  the  Admiral  at  Cadiz.  The 
proposed  draft  of  arms  from  Granada  and  Malaga  was  not 
approved,  however,  as  their  transportation  to  Seville  would 
delay  too  long  the  sailing  of  the  expedition,  which  was 
supposed  by  their  Majesties  to  be  almost  ready. 

The  month  of  July  closed  with  every  nerve  strained  by 


FOUNDING    THE    GREAT  MONOPOLY.  35 

the  Spanish  officials  to  anticipate  the  schemes  of  Portugal. 
They  were  making  rapid  progress  towards  this  end  when 
a  fresh  cause  of  disquiet  manifested  itself  in  the  excessive 
cost  of  the  preparations.  Concerning  this  a  dispute 
arose  between  Juan  de  Soria,  the  comptroller,  and  Colum 
bus.  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  learned  of  it  early  in  August, 
through  Fray  Boi'l,  the  Benedictine  monk,  who  began  thus 
early  to  meddle  in  what  concerned  neither  him  nor  his 
Church.  They  at  once  wrote  to  Fonseca,  commenting 
forcibly  upon  the  incident  and  insisting  that  "  the  Admiral 
be  honored  and  obeyed  by  all,  according  to  the  rank  which 
we  have  given  him,"  and  that  Soria  was  to  be  told  as  much 
"on  their  Majesties'  behalf."  They  also  wrote  a  soothing 
letter  to  Columbus,  which  Fonseca  was  to  deliver,  "and 
say  to  him  for  us,"  the  sovereigns  added,  "everything  that 
seems  desirable,  so  that  he  may  be  satisfied  and  consoled 
for  the  acts  of  those  at  Seville,  and  may  hasten  his  depart 
ure."  To  Soria  himself  they  sent  a  stinging  note,  saying 
"  we  have  heard  of  certain  strange  things  you  have  done  at 
Seville;  that  you  do  not  regard  and  respect  the  Admiral  of 
the  Indies  as  is  right  and  as  we  desire  ";  ordering  him  to 
obey  the  Admiral  in  all  things  thereafter,  and  declaring 
that  for  the  contrary  procedure  they  "  will  order  punish 
ment  to  be  administered."  Still,  whatever  may  have  been 
their  comptroller's  shortcomings  in  matters  of  tact,  hs  was 
justified  in  his  uneasiness  at  the  rapid  increase  in  the 
cost  of  the  expedition.  The  sum  originally  provided  had 
already  been  exhausted :  it  may  have  been  enough  for  the 
projects  of  colonization  and  continued  discovery,  but  it 
could  not  bear  the  enormous  increase  involved  in  the 
extensive  preparations  for  a  possible  conflict  with  Portu 
gal.1  The  fleet  was  not  yet  ready  to  sail,  no  limit  could 
be  fixed  to  the  outlay,  and  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  were 
straitened  for  means  with  which  to  carry  out  their  various 
projects.  They  had  entered  into  an  engagement  with 
Boabdil,  the  unfortunate  ex-king  of  Granada,  that  he  and 

1  Nearly  6,000,000  maravedies  were  allotted  to  the  Galician  squadron 
alone,  —  six  times  the  total  amount  granted  Columbus  for  the  squad 
ron  of  discovery  in  the  preceding  year  ! 


36          THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

all  his  following  of  Moorish  nobles  and  courtiers  should 
be  transported  to  Morocco  during  that  summer,  and  for 
this  purpose  had  set  aside  a  million  maravedies;  but  now 
they  wrote  Pinelo,  their  treasurer  at  Seville,  asking  him 
to  advance  this  money  to  Columbus  instead.  "As  you 
see,"  they  said,  "the  winter  is  coming  and  it  is  desirable 
that  the  fleet  should  sail  at  once.  ...  If  any  money  be 
wanting,  do  you  provide  it,  even  if  for  this  you  take  the 
million  which  you  are  to  give  us  for  the  Moorish  King." 

From  this  time  forward  scarcely  a  letter  was  written  by 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella  which  did  not  urge  economy  in 
every  detail.  To  Columbus  they  wrote,  on  August  4th,  in 
reply  to  a  suggestion  from  him  that  more  ships  would  be 
needed,  on  account  of  the  room  required  by  the  horses : 
"  If  the  horses  cannot  go  in  the  Galician  ships,  see  whether 
you  cannot  dispense  with  other  things  which  are  not  so 
necessary,  because  of  some  scarcity  of  money  which  exists." 
In  the  same  missive  they  approve  his  plan  of  placing  a 
notary  and  accountant  on  each  vessel,  so  that  the  records 
should  be  kept  separately;  "but,"  they  added,  "neither  one 
officer  nor  the  other  is  to  receive  greater  pay  than  the  other 
persons  who  are  on  board."  "For  our  sakes,"  they  again 
urge,  "  endeavor  by  all  means  in  your  power,  in  spending 
money,  to  avoid  every  unnecessary  outlay,  for  there  is  some 
want;of  it,  and  we  do  not  wish  to  have  you  delayed  an  hour 
by  this."  The  same  anxiety  was  shown  in  the  royal  let 
ters  to  Fonseca.  Referring  to  the  chartering  of  additional 
ships  for  the  horses,  Fonseca  is  instructed  to  avoid  it  if 
possible,  "  because  if  this  were  done  the  expense  would 
increase  and  the  money  give  out;  for,  as  you  know,  all 
that  was  planned  for  this  fleet  has  not  turned  out  as  was 
expected."  A  fortnight  later  they  wrote  to  the  same  offi 
cial  to  act  as  he  thought  best  in  certain  matters,  "  so  long 
as  the  outlay  of  money  is  not  augmented,  lest  that  should 
be  wanting."  The  Admiral  was  to  have  the  extra  ships  he 
had  asked  for,  after  all,  "provided  they  do  not  add  to  the 
cost."  It  is  apparent  that  there  was  a  constant  difference 
of  opinion  between  Columbus  and  the  treasury  officials  as 
to  what  were  needful  expenditures,  for  in  the  middle  of 


FOUNDING    THE    GREAT  MONOPOLY.  37 

August  he  again  came  in  conflict  with  Juan  de  Soria 
upon  this  subject.  That  officer,  notwithstanding  the  royal 
rebuke  of  -two  weeks  before,  refused  to  approve  certain 
payments  contracted  by  the  Admiral,  and  the  latter  ap 
pealed  to  the  King  and  Queen.  The  answer  came  in  no 
uncertain  tones.  "You  already  know,"  the  monarchs  wrote 
to  Fonseca,  "that  we  charged  you  when  you  were  here  that 
the  Admiral  of  the  Indies  should  receive  every  satisfaction, 
both  in  the  business  itself  and  in  the  manner  of  conduct 
ing  it;  and,  since  the  fleet  is  going  under  his  command,  it 
is  right  that  everything  should  be  done  to  his  liking,  with 
out  any  one  raising  questions  or  disputes;  therefore  do  you 
look  closely  to  this  for  our  service  and  do  all  you  can  to 
please  him.  Tell  Juan  de  Soria  for  us  that  we  command 
him  to  act  in  harmony  with  the  Admiral  and  offer  him 
no  contradiction,  and  if  he  should  make  any  objection  to 
approving  that  which  you  and  the  Admiral  sign,  let  the 
money  be  paid  without  Soria' s  signature,  for  we  want  the 
Admiral's  wishes  to  be  followed  in  all  things."  To  Soria 
himself  they  were  even  more  peremptory.  He  had  pre 
sented  his  side  of  the  case  to  the  King  and  Queen,  but  had 
met  with  scant  sympathy.  "We  have  your  letter,"  they 
answered,  "  and  have  suffered  much  vexation  from  what  we 
learned  you  did  and  are  doing  in  the  transactions  with  the 
Admiral  of  the  Indies,  because  you  know  very  well  you 
should  always  act  with  him;  and,  since  this  affair  is 
entrusted  chiefly  to  him  and  Don  Juan  de  Fonseca,  you 
are  not  to  oppose  what  they  do,  and  thus  we  command 
you."  Having  harangued  him  for  his  obstinacy,  his  royal 
master  and  mistress,  with  truly  kinglike  inconsistency, 
proceeded  to  enjoin  him  to  do  the  very  thing  for  which 
they  had  been  chiding  him.  "  Do  as  the  Admiral  desires," 
they  concluded,  "  provided  that  the  cost  is  not  increased 
so  that  the  money  runs  short."  But  the  intervention  of 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella  did  not  put  a  stop  to  the  sorry 
wrangle,  the  consequences  of  which  were  bitterly  felt  by 
Columbus  in  after  years.  There  is  no  evidence  that  it 
had  other  ground  than  an  honest  divergence  of  judgment 
between  two  officers,  each  tenacious  of  the  prerogatives  of 


38          THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

his  charge.  The  Admiral  proposed  that  his  fleet  should  be 
so  constituted  and  equipped  that  it  should  be  equal  to  any 
emergency  on  either  side  of  the  Ocean  Sea;  the  Comp 
troller  strove  to  husband  every  possible  ducat,  keenly 
aware  of  the  emptiness  of  the  royal  coffers.  Columbus 
invoked  the  authority  of  the  King  and  Queen;  Soria  re 
torted  by  refusing  his  sanction  to  the  engagement  of  the 
Admiral's  personal  attendants.  Despite  the  repeated  in 
timation  of  the  royal  displeasure,  Fonseca  sided  with 
Soria;  and  thus  began  the  feud  that  led,  not  indirectly,  to 
a  large  part  of  the  ignominy  and  distress  visited  in  later 
years  upon  the  Viceroy  of  the  Indies. 

The  state  of  the  finances  was  not  the  only  source  of  anxi 
ety  to  Ferdinand  and  Isabella.  When  the  Admiral's  squad 
ron  failed  to  get  away  in  July,  he  had  fixed  the  i5th  of 
August  as  the  probable  date  of  sailing.  As  this  date 
approached,  he  was  compelled  to  advise  his  sovereigns  that 
the  fleet  was  not  even  yet  ready  for  sea.  The  tidings  were 
most  unwelcome  to  the  King  and  Queen,  but  they  showed 
no  sign  of  impatience  in  their  intercourse  with  him.  "  As 
to  your  departure,"  they  wrote  on  August  i8th,  "we  would 
that  it  had  not  been  delayed,  but  that  you  had  sailed  on  the 
1 5th  of  this  month,  as  you  wrote  us  you  should  do.  Since 
this  was  not  practicable,  we  are  satisfied  that  it  did  not 
happen  through  any  want  of  diligence  on  your  part.  .  .  . 
Give  much  haste  to  your  departure,  for  a  single  day  of  delay 
now  means  more  than  twenty  days  heretofore,  as  the  winter 
is  near."  The  advent  of  the  stormy  season  usually  put  an 
end  to  navigation  along  the  Atlantic  coasts  of  Europe  until 
the  more  favorable  spring  weather  opened,  and  no  one  yet 
knew  what  the  winter  might  mean  out  yonder  on  the  West 
ern  Ocean.  The  solicitude  on  this  score  was,  no  doubt, 
genuine;  but  it  was  secondary  to  the  ever-present  disquiet 
concerning  the  plans  of  Portugal.  News  had  again  reached 
Columbus  at  Seville,  that  King  John  had  despatched  a  single 
caravel  from  Madeira  into  the  West.  In  communicating 
this  report  to  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  the  Admiral  had  pro 
posed  sending  after  the  Portuguese  some  of  his  own  vessels 
which  were  already  equipped  and  waiting  at  Cadiz.  The 


FOUNDING    THE    GREAT  MONOPOLY.  39 

sovereigns  acquiesced  in  the  suggestion,  adding  only  a  warn 
ing  that  the  Spanish  ships  must  not  carry  the  pursuit  into 
the  African  waters  claimed  by  Portugal.  They  added  a 
renewed  assurance  which  was  meant  to  relieve  the  mind  of 
Columbus  from  all  apprehension  on  account  of  the  squadron 
which  King  John  was  said  to  be  preparing  to  send  in  the 
wake  of  the  Admiral's  fleet :  "  If  the  King  of  Portugal  should 
prepare  a  fleet  to  send  out  to  where  you  are  going,  have  no 
care  about  it;  for  all  will  be  provided  for,  with  God's  help. 
Do  not  delay  on  this  score,  but  start  soon."  So  great  was 
their  desire  to  conceal  the  whereabouts  of  the  Indies,  that 
they  concluded  their  letter  with  a  caution  against  the  Ad 
miral  laying  his  outward  course  too  near  the  European 
shores  on  leaving  Cadiz.  "  It  seems  to  us  best  that  you 
should  not  approach  Cape  St.  Vincent,"  they  wrote;  "  rather 
draw  away  from  that  coast,  even  if  you  have  to  make  a 
detour,  so  that  you  may  not  go  near  Portugal,  lest  they  know 
the  course  you  take."  To  Fonseca  they  wrote  in  the  same 
strain,  earnestly  directing  him  to  keep  informed  of  the  prep 
arations  making  by  the  Portuguese  and  to  be  himself  pre 
pared  for  action,  "so  that  if  we  have  to  despatch  another 
fleet  after  the  Admiral,  it  may  sail  promptly." 

The  King  of  Portugal  meantime  had  thought  it  expedient 
to  send  two  ambassadors  to  the  Spanish  Court  to  disclaim 
all  intentions  of  a  hostile  nature  and  allay  the  suspicions 
which  were  so  vehemently  aroused  in  the  minds  of  Ferdi 
nand  and  Isabella.  The  Spanish  monarchs  seem  to  have 
put  little  faith  in  these  protestations.  They  rested  their 
claims  to  a  monopoly  of  transoceanic  exploration  and  navi 
gation  upon  the  recent  Papal  Bull.  East  of  the  line  therein 
laid  down  —  that  is,  along  the  coasts  of  Africa  and,  if  so 
King  John  chose,  around  the  lately  explored  Cape  of  Good 
Hope, —  the  Portuguese  might  sail  at  will,  until  they  found 
a  way  to  the  coveted  "Spiceries."  But  west  of  that  line, 
wherever  the  restless  Ocean  Sea  led  them,  the  Spaniards 
alone  had  the  right  to  go.  For  the  Portuguese  to  attempt 
to  follow  them  on  that  waste  of  waters  was,  thanks  to  Pope 
Alexander  of  Borgia,  tantamount  to  an  invasion  of  Castilian 
territory,  and  would  so  be  received.  Little  wonder,  consid- 


4<D          THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE   ADMIRAL. 

ering  the  vague  ideas  of  even  the  wisest  as  to  the  relative 
positions  of  the  Cape,  Japan,  and  Cuba,  that  the  Portuguese 
emissaries  should  confess  themselves  unable  to  solve  the 
knotty  problem  of  the  boundaries  to  the  "Indies,"  and 
return  to  Lisbon  for  further  instructions. 

In  this  emergency  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  threw  them 
selves  on  the  geographical  skill  of  their  Admiral,  and  re 
ferred  their  whole  case  to  him  for  decision,  fairly  entreating 
him,  meanwhile,  to  forestall  Portugal  by  getting  under  way 
at  the  earliest  moment  possible  and  thus  solve  the  dispute 
by  an  accomplished  act.  "  There  has  been  much  discussion 
with  the  Portuguese  ambassadors,"  they  wrote  to  Columbus 
on  September  5th,  "about  this  affair,  and  we  have  no  faith 
that  it  will  be  adjusted,  because  they  are  not  instructed  as 
to  what  belongs  to  us.  We  have  decided  to  inform  you  of 
the  fact,  so  that  you  may  know  that  no  agreement  has  been 
reached  up  to  the  present,  and  we  strictly  charge  you  that 
for  our  sakes  you  do  not  delay  your  sailing  for  a  single  hour." 
The  Portuguese  messengers  had  declared  that  the  caravel 
reported  by  Columbus  had  slipped  away  from  Madeira 
without  the  permission  of  King  John,  and  that  the  latter,  as 
soon  as  the  news  reached  Lisbon,  had  straightway  sent  three 
others  to  seek  and  bring  it  back.  "It  may  be,  however," 
the  King  and  Queen  wrote  to  the  Admiral,  "  that  this  was 
done  with  other  designs,  and  that  those  who  went  in  the 
caravels,  whether  the  single  one  or  the  three  others,  are 
anxious  to  spy  out  something  of  which  belongs  to  us;  there 
fore  we  command  you  that  you  look  diligently  to  this  and 
provide  for  it  in  such  manner  that  neither  these  nor  any 
other  caravels  which  may  set  out  shall  discover  or  reach 
any  part  which  belongs  to  us  within  the  boundaries  which 
you  wot  of.  Although  we  hope  that  we  shall  reach  a  con 
clusion  with  the  King  of  Portugal,  it  is  right,  and  we  so 
desire,  that  those  who  ventured  into  the  parts  which  are 
ours  should  be  very  sufficiently  chastised,  and  that  both 
their  persons  and  their  ships  be  seized." 

There  is  in  all  this  correspondence  between  Ferdinand 
and  his  Admiral  —  for,  although  they  were  signed  by  both 
King  and  Queen,  every  line  proved  the  letters  to  have  been 


FOUNDING    THE    GREAT  MONOPOLY.  41 

the  work  of  the  monarch  who  later  showed  himself  to  be  the 
ablest  master  of  statecraft  of  his  times  —  an  appearance  of 
naivete"  and  disingenuousness  which,  when  we  consider  the 
circumstances,  approaches  the  grotesque.  It  is  the  work 
of  a  consummate  dissimulator  showing  his  whole  hand  to 
a  servant  in  whose  abilities  and  devotion  he  has  implicit 
trust,  and  yet  whom  he  is  bent  upon  cajoling  in  turn  to 
compass  his  own  royal  ends.  For,  while  Ferdinand  was 
inciting  Columbus  to  take  this  whole  vexed  question  out  of 
the  domain  of  politics  by  hastening  off  with  his  armada  and 
reaching  the  Indies  while  the  negotiations  were  pending, 
Ferdinand  himself  was  trying  to  find  out  exactly  where 
these  much-talked-of  Indies  were  !  What  was  the  object  of 
Columbus  in  hiding,  first  from  his  pilots  and  captains  and 
afterwards  from  the  King  and  Queen,  the  exact  record  of  his 
observations  while  on  his  first  voyage  and,  consequently,  the 
precise  course  to  be  steered  to  reach  Hispaniola  and  Cuba, 
we  can  only  conjecture.  Presumably  he  did  not  wish  to 
disclose  these  details  until  the  Spanish  Crown  had  fulfilled 
its  obligations  to  him  and  he  was  fairly  settled  in  the  enjoy 
ment  of  his  promised  dignities.  Be  this  as  it  may,  although 
he  had  left  with  the  Queen  the  Journal  of  his  voyage  and 
shown  her  Majesty  and  Ferdinand  the  chart  which  he  had 
made  of  his  discoveries,  neither  the  one  nor  the  other 
indicated  in  what  part  of  the  broad  Western  Ocean  the 
latter  were  situated.  Therefore,  in  informing  the  Admiral 
of  the  status  of  the  negotiations  with  Portugal,  the  King 
wrote  :  — 

4i  In  the  discussion  which  has  been  held  with  them  [the  Por 
tuguese],  some  contend  that  between  the  point  which  they  call 
Good  Hope  (which  is  on  the  route  they  now  follow  to  reach 
Guinea  and  the  Gold  Coast)  and  the  boundary  you  said  should 
be  inserted  in  the  Pope's  Bull,  there  are  probably  islands  and 
even  a  continent,  and  that  these  from  their  vicinity  to  the  sun 
must  be  very  valuable,  and  richer  than  all  the  others  [discov 
ered]  .  Since  we  are  sure  you  know  more  about  this  than  any 
one  else,  we  desire  you  to  send  us  your  opinion  about  it  at  once, 
so  that,  if  you  agree  with  those  here  and  think  it  desirable,  the 
Bull  may  be  corrected.  .  .  .  Send  us  also  the  degrees  in  which 


42          THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

lie  the  islands  and  continent  which  you  found,  so  that  we  may 
better  understand  your  book.  Also  send  us  the  chart  in  much 
detail,  with  all  the  names  written  down ;  and  if  you  think  we 
should  not  show  it,  write  us  to  that  effect.1' 

To  Fonseca  their  Majesties  wrote  a  letter  of  much  the 
came  tenor,  referring  to  Columbus  the  decision  as  to  what 
course  should  be  followed,  now  that  no  agreement  had  been 
reached  in  the  dispute  as  to  metes  and  bounds.  "The  more 
we  discuss  this  affair,"  they  wrote  the  Archdeacon,  "the 
more  do  we  recognize  how  great  a  service  he  [the  Admiral] 
has  done  us,  and  that  concerning  it  he  knows  more  than  all 
other  men ;  and  so  everything  should  be  referred  to  him." 

Queen  Isabella  alone,  whose  regard  for  Columbus  and 
whose  faith  in  him  are  open  to  no  suspicion  of  insincerity, 
does  not  seem  to  have  been  drawn  into  the  tangled  web  of 
intrigue.  On  the  5th  of  September,  in  anticipation  of  his 
immediate  sailing,  she  wrote  him,  returning  the  Journal  of 
his  first  voyage  which  he  had  left  with  her  to  be  copied. 
The  letter  was  addressed,  with  a  pride  which  is  almost 
pathetic  when  we  recall  the  bitter  loss  her  death  caused 
Columbus,  to  "  Don  Christopher  Columbus,  My  Admiral  of 
the  Ocean  Sea,  Viceroy  and  Governor  of  the  Islands  newly 
found  in  the  Indies."  After  apologizing  for  keeping  the 
book  so  long,  on  account  of  the  necessity  of  having  it  copied 
in  secret  by  trustworthy  hands,  to  prevent  any  knowledge 
of  its  contents  being  betrayed  to  the  Portuguese,  the  Queen 
says : — 

"  Of  a  surety,  from  all  that  has  been  seen  and  said  concerning 
this  undertaking,  each  day  it  is  discovered  to  be  much  vaster  and 
of  great  scope  and  import,  and  that  you  have  greatly  served  us 
therein ;  and  we  hold  you  in  our  special  care.  Thus  we  trust 
in  God  that  you  shall  receive  from  us  much  more  honor  and 
benefit  and  aggrandizement  than  that  which  is  already  stipulated, 
and  which  shall  be  discharged  and  fulfilled  with  all  scrupulous 
ness,  as  is  right  and  as  your  achievements  and  merits  deserve. 
If  the  sailing-chart  which  you  were  to  make  is  finished,  send  it 
to  me  at  once,  and  for  my  sake  make  great  haste  in  your  depart 
ing,  so  that  may  be  effected  at  once,  since  you  see  how  much  the 
success  of  the  enterprise  demands  it." 


FOUNDING    THE    GREAT  MONOPOLY.  43 

The  letter  closes  with  a  caution  to  be  constantly  on  his 
guard  against  the  King  of  Portugal,  "  so  that  in  no  event 
may  you  be  deceived." 

By  this  time  the  preparations  for  the  voyage  were  all  but 
completed.  Changing  conditions  had  called  for  corre 
sponding  modifications  in  the  arrangements,  particularly 
with  regard  to  the  offensive  portion  of  the  fleet.  The  for 
midable  Biscayan  squadron  had  been  detached  at  the  last 
moment  from  the  Admiral's  orders,  apparently  from  motives 
of  economy,  and  restored  to  the  duty  of  transporting  King 
Boabdil  and  his  retinue  to  Tangiers.  The  King  and  Queen 
trusted  to  Fonseca,  as  we  have  said,  to  keep  a  close  watch 
upon  Portugal  and  have  other  vessels  in  readiness  to  oppose 
her,  should  that  power  attempt  to  send  a  fleet  after  Colum 
bus  ;  hence  the  acquisition  of  the  heavy  armament  proposed 
by  the  latter  was  deferred  until  the  emergency  should  arise. 
Moreover,  Captain  Ifrigo  de  Artieta  had  shown  himself  to 
be  more  of  a  freebooter  than  the  Admiral  cared,  perhaps, 
to  be  burdened  with.  In  coming  around  from  the  Biscayan 
coast  to  Cadiz,  the  doughty  Captain  had  encountered  a 
squadron  of  Portuguese  caravels  bound  from  Lisbon  to 
Guinea,  and  had  then  and  there  gone  in  chase  and,  appar 
ently,  captured  the  entire  flotilla.  For  this  excess  of  zeal 
he  was  roundly  rebuked  by  the  Admiral,  who  insisted  that 
such  action  was  sure  to  be  disavowed  by  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella,  as  indeed  was  the  case ;  for  they  wrote  a  sharp 
letter  to  their  over-zealous  officer,  ordering  him  to  restore 
the  vessels  at  once  to  Portugal  and  sending  him  with  his 
fleet  to  the  seaport  of  Granada  to  carry  the  Moors  to  Africa, 
instead  of  sailing  to  the  Golden  Indies  with  Columbus. 
The  change  in  orders  can  hardly  have  been  agreeable  to  the 
adventurous  Basque,  but  he  had  a  glimmer  of  hope  left  in 
the  instructions  given  him  to  return  as  soon  as  practicable 
from  Morocco,  so  that  if  the  Portuguese  should  go  in  pur 
suit  of  Columbus  the  Biscayan  fleet  could  follow  after  and 
settle  scores  with  their  rivals  on  the  high  seas. 

The  prospect  of  sending  out  this  second  detachment  in 
reinforcement  of  the  Admiral  led  to  the  postponement  until 
its  sailing  of  many  shipments  at  first  designed  for  the  pio- 


44          THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

neer  fleet,  —  a  measure  which  still  further  husbanded  both 
money  and  time  at  a  juncture  when  both  were  of  imminent 
importance.  Columbus  was  directed  to  "leave  his  opinion 
as  to  the  fleet  which  will  have  to  be  prepared,  if  it  should 
be  needful  to  send  one  out,  and  the  persons  who  should  go 
in  it,  and  settle  upon  some  of  the  ships  he  thought  should 
go  "  ;  and  he  was  accordingly  enabled  to  dispense  with  much 
he  would  otherwise  have  taken  at  this  time.  With  these 
provisions  made  for  future  supplies  and  aid,  he  could  set 
sail  in  perfect  confidence. 

By  the  middle  of  September  all  the  vessels  were  in  readi 
ness  to  sail,  the  stores  and  munitions  on  board,  and  the 
crews  awaiting  their  orders.  Prior  to  embarking  the  twelve 
hundred  men  who  were  to  make  the  voyage,  Columbus  held 
a  review  of  them,  with  their  arms  and  equipments,  at  Seville. 
The  result  was  disquieting.  It  had  been  consistently  his 
aim  to  have  his  whole  force,  military  as  well  as  civil, 
selected  with  a  view  to  the  welfare  of  the  colonies  to  be 
founded  and  the  rapid  success  of  his  other  operations.  He 
had  proposed  that,  as  to  the  more  humble  class  of  followers, 
the  men  should  be  industrious  and  hardy,  and,  as  to  the 
better  sort,  loyal  and  capable  of  endurance  under  the  trials 
he  knew  to  be  inevitable.  What  he  could  do  to  maintain 
such  a  standard  had  been  done;  but  the  influences  of  the 
Court  were  strong  and  his  opportunities  for  revision  few,  so 
that  little  by  little  the  lists  were  filled  with  soldiers  of  for 
tune,  ambitious  adventurers,  and  the  more  worthless  de 
pendants  of  king  and  grandees,  until  the  motley  throng 
assembled  at  Seville  wore  rather  the  aspect  of  a  freebooting 
foray  than  of  a  sober  colonizing  expedition.  This  was  not 
what  their  commander  had  planned  and  hoped  for,  but  he 
had  no  remedy  at  that  late  hour.  The  men  as  they  stood 
had  passed  the  royal  inspectors  and  were  enrolled  on  the 
comptroller's  books.  The  sentiments  of  the  Admiral,  and 
the  course  he  pursued,  before  finally  sending  his  ill-assorted 
company  on  the  vessels  assigned  to  them,  are  best  learned 
from  a  report  he  made,  upon  a  later  occasion,  to  the  King 
and  Queen :  — 


FOUNDING    THE    GREAT  MONOPOLY.  45 

''When  I  came  out  here"  [to  Hispaniola],  he  wrote,  "I 
brought  with  me  many  people  for  the  subjection  of  these 
lands,  all  of  whom  I  accepted  by  reason  of  the  importunities 
exercised,  who  declared  that  they  would  serve  faithfully  in  the 
cause,  and  better  than  any  others.  But  the  contrary  was  the 
case,  as  you  have  seen ;  for  they  did  not  join  except  in  the 
belief  that  the  gold  which  it  was  said  they  should  find,  and 
the  spices,  were  to  be  gathered  with  a  shovel ;  that  the  drugs 
lay  ready  in  bundles,  and  everything  was  close  to  the  edge  of 
the  sea,  so  that  nothing  remained  to  be  done  but  throw  it  into 
the  ships.  So  blinded  were  they  by  avarice ;  nor  did  they 
consider  that,  although  there  were  gold,  it  would  be  in  mines, 
and  so  with  the  other  metals,  and  the  spices  would  be  on  the 
trees ;  so  that  it  would  be  necessary  to  dig  out  the  gold  and 
gather  and  dry  the  spices.  All  this  I  told  them  in  Seville;  for 
there  were  so  many  who  wished  to  come,  and  I  was  so  well 
aware  of  their  motive,  that  I  caused  this  to  be  explained  to 
them,  as  well  as  all  the  hardships  which  those  who  go  to  peo 
ple  new  and  distant  lands  are  wont  to  suffer.  To  this  they 
all  replied  that  they  came  with  this  expectation  and  to  win 
glory  by  so  doing ;  but  it  all  turned  out  to  be  the  contrary." 

What  the  consequences  were  we  shall  see  in  due  time. 
Meantime  every  soul  of  the  number,  from  the  royal  in 
spector  to  the  youngest  cabin-boy,  was  sworn  on  mass- 
book  and  crucifix  to  be  a  loyal  subject  of  the  King  and 
Queen  and  serve  faithfully  their  Admiral  and  Viceroy,  upon 
pain  of  death  in  this  world  and  an  indefinite  sojourn  in 
Purgatory  in  the  next.  This  done,  they  were  ordered  to 
seek  their  ships.  Now  began,  however,  one  of  those  suc 
cessful  speculations  which  proves  the  whole  world  akin. 
Many  of  the  men  who  had  made  a  brave  show  of  armor, 
arquebuse,  and  cross-bow  at  the  Admiral's  review  hurriedly 
sold  their  equipments  to  the  nearest  dealer  and  went  on 
board  as  unarmed  as  the  ship's  scullion.  Others  sold  out 
right  their  place  on  the  roll  to  those  who  were  anxious  to 
go  but  had  failed  of  appointment.  The  twenty  horses  whose 
transportation  had  caused  Columbus  so  much  concern,  and 
which  had  received  his  approval,  were  spirited  out  of  the 
way  and  as  many  worthless  hacks  were  smuggled  into  the 
ships  in  their  stead.  Other  like  scurvy  tricks  were  played 
in  the  excitement  of  these  last  days,  until  the  effectiveness 


46          THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

of  the  enlisted  force  was  seriously  impaired  and  its  number 
swelled  by  the  surreptitious  entrance  of  two  or  three  hun 
dred  stowaways,  who  managed  to  hide  themselves  aboard 
the  several  crafts.  It  is  doubtful  whether  any  of  this  disorder 
would  have  been  possible  had  the  Admiral  been  able  to 
continue  his  personal  oversight  of  the  embarkation,  but  he 
had  been  seized  with  a  severe  attack  of  the  gouty  affection 
with  which  he  suffered  and  was  confined  to  his  bed.  Later 
on,  when  he  became  aware  of  the  rascalities  perpetrated, 
he  did  not  hesitate  to  lay  them  at  the  door  of  Juan  de  Soria, 
the  royal  comptroller,  charging  that  official  with  having 
turned  a  pretty  penny  thereby,  in  addition  to  the  embar 
rassment  sure  to  result  to  his  enemy,  the  Admiral,  from  the 
disorganization  introduced  into  his  carefully  laid  plans. 
The  King  and  Queen  thought  the  matter  serious  enough  to 
warrant  an  investigation,  and  there  the  affair  rested,  after 
the  manner  of  investigations.  Such  untoward  things  have 
since  happened,  even  in  the  new  world  which  Columbus 
was  setting  forth  to  explore. 

The  force  embarked;  the  squadron  was  directed  to  ren 
dezvous  at  Cadiz,  and  there  await  the  coming  of  the 
Admiral.  It  was  an  evil  chance  that  he  was  stricken  with 
illness  just  then,  but  it  was  not  extraordinary.  The  exces 
sive  strain,  mental  as  well  as  physical,  under  which  he 
labored  so  long  without  remission  had  broken  a  constitu 
tion  which,  if  we  may  judge  from  occasional  references  in 
his  writings,  was  already  enfeebled  by  a  life  of  hardship. 
If  the  six  months  just  closing  had  been  a  season  of 
triumph,  they  had  also  imposed  a  fresh  burden  of  anxiety 
and  toil  upon  one  who  was  entitled,  if  ever  man  was,  to 
some  respite,  however  brief.  That  Columbus  had  taken 
none,  but,  from  the  hour  of  his  return  from  his  first  voyage 
to  that  of  departing  upon  his  second,  had  been  content  to 
immerse  himself  in  the  myriad  details  of  such  an  under 
taking  as  that  he  was  now  embarking  upon,  should  weigh 
somewhat  against  the  protestations  of  those  who  affect  to 
see  in  him  only  an  audacious  speculator  or  greedy  adven 
turer.  Until  these  later  days  men  have  not  grudged  a 
generous  applause  and  lasting  fame  to  those  who  pursue 


FOUNDING    THE    GREAT  MONOPOLY.  47 

great  aims  with  patient  diligence,  who  shun  no  labor  to 
compass  worthy  ends,  who  postpone  the  enjoyment  of  ease, 
profit,  and  glory  itself,  to  achieve  a  great  ideal.  Now,  for 
sooth,  such  appreciation  is  unseemly  —  worthy  only  of  an 
"amiable  hero-worship."  That  Historical  Criticism  which 
is  only  too  often  neither  historical  as  to  facts  nor  critical 
in  its  treatment  of  them  prefers  to  hunt  out  and  magnify 
the  weaknesses  of  a  great  character  rather  than  to  accept  and 
respect  its  manly  side.  To  this  school  the  energy,  fore 
sight,  and  persistence  shown  by  Columbus  at  this  season 
are  no  more  than  the  consuming  greed  of  an  inflated  vanity 
hastening  to  enter  upon  its  new  office  and  to  derive  there 
from  the  promised  advantages  of  wealth  and  rank.  But 
those  who  are  contented  to  regard  him  as  only  a  "  mere 
mortal  man,"  with  his  quantum  of  human  defects  hidden 
by  his  sufficit  of  human  greatness,  will  not  fail  to  conceive 
a  juster  estimate  of  his  personality.  For  it  is  most  certain 
that  in  all  these  months  of  stress  and  care  Columbus  had 
proved  himself  to  be  a  man  of  infinite  resource,  of  un 
limited  capacity  for  labor  of  many  kinds,  and  of  unfalter 
ing  persistence.  He  had  planned  with  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella  a  far-reaching  scheme  of  exploration,  occupation, 
and  development  extending  over  a  quarter  of  the  globe's 
superficies;  he  had  attended  personally  to  the  selection  of 
the  ships  and,  so  far  as  he  was  permitted,  of  the  men  des 
tined  to  carry  out  these  plans;  had  drawn  up  the  sched 
ules  for  the  equipment,  armament,  and  provisioning  of  his 
fleet,  and  of  the  colonies  to  be  established  and  maintained 
until  they  should  be  self-supporting;  had  kept  a  keen 
watch  on  Portugal's  underhand  manoeuvres  and  acted 
promptly  to  thwart  them ;  had  proposed  to  his  sovereigns 
first  the  scheme  of  the  Papal  Bull  and  afterwards  a  modifi 
cation  of  it  which,  if  granted,  would  vastly  enhance  their 
authority  in  the  undiscovered  parts  of  ocean;  and,  not 
least,  had  upheld  his  dignity  and  prerogatives  in  the  face 
of  the  influential  and  numerous  cabal  which  was  bent  on 
breaking  the  pride  or  foiling  the  success  of  the  man  they 
could  only  recognize  as  a  lucky  parvenu.  It  may  be  urged 
that  in  all  this  he  had  the  countenance  of  the  King  and 


48          THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

Queen  at  a.  time  when  that  was  as  much  to  ambitious  men 
as  are  the  sun's  rays  to  struggling  vegetation;  but  no  small 
skill  was  required  to  win  and  hold  this.  To  the  courtly  and 
liberal  chronicler  of  the  Spanish  monarchs,  Peter  Martyr, 
the  Admiral  was  merely  "a  certain  Genoese,  one  Christo 
pher  Columbus,"  even  after  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  had 
bestowed  their  unstinted  approbation  upon  him  and  hailed 
him  as  a  grandee  of  Spain.  What  the  historian  wrote 
without  malice,  from  a  mere  habit  which  connected  great 
ness  instinctively  with  birth  and  rank,  was  covertly  repeated 
and  magnified  by  scores  of  influential  dependants  upon  the 
royal  favor,  whose  envy  blinded  them  to  everything  but  a 
comparison  between  the  new  Admiral's  eminence  and  their 
own  relative  insignificance.  To  command  the  continued 
confidence  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  in  the  face  of  so 
much  malign  sentiment  and  suggestion,  of  itself  betokens 
the  skilled  and  ready  man  of  affairs. 

Beyond  a  doubt,  the  chief  danger  of  a  disagreement  at 
this  period  between  Columbus  and  his  sovereigns  lay  in 
the  excessive  expenditure  in  which  the  expedition  involved 
them.  It  was  originally  supposed  that  the  outlay  would 
not  greatly  pass  six  million  of  maravedies.  It  finally 
amounted  to  nearly  four  times  as  much,  and  so  vastly  ex 
ceeded  the  estimates  as  to  involve  the  Crown  in  serious 
embarrassment,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  monotonous 
plaints.  This  was  used  by  Soria  and  his  following  to  prej 
udice  the  King  especially,  against  Columbus.  That  the 
attempt  wholly  failed  is  probably  due  less  to  any  innate 
sentiment  of  magnanimity  on  the  part  of  the  parsimonious 
Ferdinand  than  to  the  hopes  which  he  built  of  receiving 
immediate  and  considerable  returns  of  gold  and  precious 
drugs  from  the  garrison  of  forty-two  men  which  the  Admi 
ral  had  left  at  Navidad  with  such  stringent  orders  to  collect 
the  greatest  possible  amount  of  treasure  before  his  return. 
We  find  this  sanguine  expectation  repeatedly  recorded  in 
the  letters  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  to  Columbus  prior  to 
the  latter 's  departure  from  Cadiz.  One  of  the  first  ap 
pointments  made  by  their  Majesties,  in  the  beginning  of 
May,  was  that  of  Gomez  de  Telles,  an  officer  of  their 


FOUNDING    THE    GREAT  MONOPOLY. 


49 


household,  to  be  receiver  for  them  "of  all  which  should 
be  out  there  [in  Hispaniola]  belonging  in  any  wise  to  us." 
So  confident  were  they  on  this  score  that,  to  mitigate  the 
hardship  of  the  ofhce,  they  promised  Telles  that,  if  it 
should  inconvenience  him  to  remain  in  the  Indies  more 
than  "a  few  days,"  he  might  return  with  the  first  ships 
which  Columbus  was  to  send  back.  Again,  in  giving 
Columbus  the  cumulative  rank  of  Captain-General  of  this 
expedition,  their  Majesties  named  Antonio  de  Torres,  an 
officer  high  in  their  favor,  as  second  in  command,  with  the 
especial  duty  of  taking  charge  of  the  vessels  of  the  fleet 
which  were  to  bring  to  Spain  the  treasures  accumulated  by 
the  outpost  at  Navidad.  Bernal  Diaz  de  Pisa,  the  comp 
troller,  was  directed  to  keep  as  exact  an  account  of  "all 
the  gold,  spices,  and  other  things  "  which  were  shipped 
from  the  Indies,  as  he  did  of  all  that  was  sent  there  from 
Spain.  In  writing  to  Columbus  before  his  departure, 
their  Majesties  again  refer  to  this  matter,  saying  that  they 
think  it  best  that  he  send  back  to  Spain  all  the  ships  he 
does  not  need  to  retain  at  Navidad  laden  "  with  what  may 
be  in  store  there."  The  Admiral  himself  partook  of  this 
expectation,  for  later  on  he  asked  to  be  instructed  as  to 
whom  to  deliver  the  gold  of  Navidad;  to  which  their 
Majesties  replied,  "It  is  not  needful  that  we  name  any  one 
from  here,  so  long  as  you  send  it  by  some  one  who  you 
know  will  bring  it  with  care  and  safely  deliver  it  to  our 
representative."  That  the  returning  vessels  were  to  bring 
a  large  and  valuable  cargo  back  to  Seville  in  a  few  months, 
which  should  go  far  towards  reimbursing  the  Crown  for  the 
heavy  outlay  now  being  made,  was  considered  to  be  beyond 
dispute,  and  no  doubt  influenced  both  their  Majesties  and 
the  Admiral  in  keeping  so  close  a  watch  on  the  movements 
of  Portugal. 


III. 

THE   BEGINNING   OF   EMIGRATION. 

SEVENTEEN  vessels  rode  at  anchor  in  the  harbor  of 
O  Cadiz,  awaiting  the  orders  of  the  Admiral  of  the  Ocean 
Sea.  Three  of  these  were  ships,  properly  speaking, —  car- 
acks  of  200  or  300  tons  burthen, —  the  "Gallega,"  a  Bis- 
cayan  craft,  as  her  name  indicates,  the  "Maria  Galante,"  on 
which  the  Admiral  sailed,  and  a  third  whose  name  is  not 
given.  The  remaining  fourteen  were  better  adapted  to  pur 
poses  of  exploration,  being  caravels  of  light  draft  and  small 
tonnage,  varying  from  thirty  or  forty  to  seventy  or  eighty 
tons.  Among  the  latter  was  one  which  bore  the  proud  dis 
tinction  of  having  already  made  the  hazardous  passage, — 
one  whose  clumsy  bows  had  parted  the  quiet  waters  of  many 
a  land-locked  harbor  in  the  mysterious  Indies,  and  whose 
rude  timbers  had  borne  the  shock  of  many  a  gale  in  seas 
whose  very  existence  had  been  denied  for  a  thousand  years. 
We  find  no  particular  mention  of  the  sturdy  little  world- 
finder  in  the  scanty  chronicles  of  the  day :  if  any  of  the  thou 
sands  who  watched  the  flotilla  as  it  lay  off  the  Cadiz  mole 
pointed  her  out  as  worthy  of  remark,  it  was  doubtless  some 
weather-beaten  seaman  who  had  made  the  previous  voyage 
with  the  Sefior  Colon  and  spoke  with  pride  of  the  "Nina" 
as  a  mute  witness  to  the  truth  of  the  wonders  he  related. 
But,  all  unheralded  as  she  was,  the  staunch  caravel  was  des 
tined  to  acquire  fresh  fame  upon  this  new  cruise  and  to 
write  her  name  again  on  History's  page  before  she  joined 
the  ships  of  Jason  and  Ulysses,  of  Hanno  and  Necho,  in 
the*  shadowy  realms  where  drift  in  saecula  saeculorum  the 
5° 


THE  BEGINNING    OF  EMIGRATION.  51 

phantom  craft  which  have  taught  mankind  that  the  horizon 
is  but  the  To-morrow  of  the  physical  world. 

On  Tuesday,  the  24th  of  September,  all  was  ready  aboard 
the  fleet,  and  the  Admiral  issued  his  orders  to  weigh  anchor 
on  the  following  morning.  It  is  not  likely  that  there  was 
much  rest  on  the  crowded  ships.  The  spirit  of  ambition 
and  adventure  was  too  rife  in  that  tumultuous  throng  to 
allow  the  eve  of  their  departure  for  the  Golden  Indies  to  be 
passed  in  inglorious  peace.  Their  plans,  their  hopes,  their 
deeds,  their  destinies,  had  to  be  vaunted,  debated,  and 
challenged  in  turn  on  such  an  occasion,  or  the  followers  of 
the  Admiral  would  have  been  no  true  children  of  sunny 
Spain.  On  shore,  too,  the  vigil  of  excitement  was  kept,  for 
the  good  people  of  Cadiz  took  both  interest  and  pride  in  the 
sailing  of  the  expedition.  Its  success  meant  for  their  city, 
in  the  near  future,  busy  wharves  and  teeming  warehouses; 
cargoes  of  spices,  of  silks,  of  slaves,  perchance  of  gold; 
profits  for  their  merchants  and  brilliant  careers  for  their 
lads.  Thus,  as  the  night  grew  old  and  the  land  breeze 
drew  down  from  the  heights,  it  bore  across  the  bay  towards 
the  ships  the  shouts  and  cries  of  friends  on  shore,  to  mingle 
with  the  louder  uproar  of  the  multitude  afloat.  When  day 
dawned  on  Wednesday,  the  25th,  both  the  decks  and  the 
beaches  were  thronged  with  expectant  crowds.  The  creak 
ing  of  tackle  and  shouts  of  command  bore  witness  to  the 
immediate  sailing  of  the  fleet,  and  the  slowly  hoisting  sails 
waved  a  ghostly  adios  through  the  gray  morning  light  to  the 
assemblage  which  lined  the  water-front.  The  Admiral's 
flagship  was  the  first  to  get  under  weigh,  leading  the  fleet 
out  past  the  Diamond  Bank  and  so  to  the  open  sea.  As 
the  sails  filled  and  the  vessels  gathered  way,  the  cheers  from 
ship  and  shore  mingled  with  the  blare  of  trumpet  and  roll 
of  drum,  until  the  whole  scene  took  on  the  aspect  of  a  joyous 
pageant.  Before  the  sun  rose,  the  bows  of  the  little  squad 
ron  were  breasting  the  Atlantic  billows  and  the  first  great 
emigration  to  the  New  World  was  fairly  begun. 

One  picturesque  incident  we  owe  to  the  letters  of  an 
eye-witness  who  was  watching  the  stirring  scene.  Among 
the  vessels  at  anchor  in  the  harbor  was  a  Venetian  fleet, 


52          THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

which  had  entered  the  port  a  few  days  before.  Now,  as 
the  Spanish  squadron  swept  out  into  the  open,  the  hardy 
sea-dogs  of  the  Adriatic  lined  their  bulwarks  and  shouted 
lustily  their  wishes  for  a  fair  passage  and  a  speedy  return, 
after  the  generous  fashion  of  sailor-men.  If,  as  he  stood 
on  the  poop  of  his  flagship,  the  pulse  of  Columbus  quick 
ened  while  he  listened  to  these  cheers,  his  pride  was  justi 
fiable;  for  Venice  was  the  ancient  rival  of  Spain  in  the 
navigation  of  the  European  seas,  and  her  sailors  had  been 
the  Admiral's  own  foes  on  many  an  occasion  in  the  long- 
past  days  when  he  sailed  under  the  orders  of  his  native 
Genoa.  For  centuries  the  Queen  of  the  Adriatic  had  held 
the  keys  of  the  only  gates  to  the  Orient,  through  the  world- 
old  road  of  Syria  and  Egypt;  but  the  caravels  now  exchang 
ing  vivas  with  her  galleys  in  the  Andalusian  harbor  were 
bound  for  the  ports  of  Cipango  and  Cathay  by  a  route  which 
was  still  a  mystery  to  all  the  world  save  their  Majesties  of 
Spain  and  their  Admiral,  but  which  the  latter  did  not  doubt 
was  destined  to  wrest  from  Venice  her  long-held  commer 
cial  supremacy.  Unconscious  as  they  were  of  any  such 
sequel,  the  shouts  with  which  the  men  of  St.  Mark  hailed 
the  new  Viceroy  of  the  Indies,  as  the  "Maria  Galante  " 
glided  by,  were  the  Morituri  Salutamus  of  the  passing  traffic 
of  the  marble  city  in  the  lagoons. 

In  compliance  with  his  instructions  Columbus  steered 
a  southwest  course  as  soon  as  he  was  off  soundings  and 
headed  direct  for  the  Canaries,  thus  avoiding  all  chance  of 
an  approach  to  the  coasts  of  Portugal.  The  weather  was 
fair,  the  breeze  favorable,  and  ere  long  even  the  keenest 
eye  could  see  nothing  in  the  North  but  the  same  tumbling 
sea  which  stretched  away  into  the  haunted  West. 

"  The  fleet  which  their  Catholic  Majesties,  our  Sovereigns, 
have  sent  from  Spain  to  the  Indies  and  the  government  of  their 
Admiral  of  the  Ocean  Sea,  Christopher  Columbus,  by  the  divine 
permission  set  sail  from  Cadiz  the  25th  day  of  September  in 
the  year  1493,  with  weather  and  wind  favorable  for  our  course. 
This  weather  lasted  two  days,  during  which  we  made  about  fifty 
leagues ;  then  it  changed  for  other  two  days,  during  which  we 
made  little  or  nothing.  After  this  it  pleased  God  that  the  good 


THE  BEGINNING   OF  EMIGRATION.  53 

weather  should  return,  so  that  in  two  days  more  we  arrived  at 
the  Great  Canary,  where  we  made  a  port." 

So  opens  the  journal  or  report  which  Dr.  Chanca,  surgeon 
of  the  fleet,  wrote  for  the  information  of  the  Municipal 
Council  of  Seville,  his  native  city.  Its  prosaic  baldness  is 
strikingly  indicative  of  the  widely  diverse  sentiment  with 
which  the  sailing  of  the  first  and  second  expeditions  of 
Columbus  were  regarded,  and  no  homily  could  be  more 
eloquent  of  the  instability  of  human  emotions.  It  was  only 
thirteen  months  since  the  three  little  vessels  had  left  Palos 
on  their  desperate  undertaking;  only  six  since  the  "  Nina  " 
had  returned  with  her  amazing  evidences  of  prodigious 
discovery  and  her  tidings  were  hailed  by  the  learned  of  all 
Europe  as  the  fulfilment  of  ancient  prophecy;  only  four 
since,  as  the  result  of  that  first  voyage,  the  burly  profligate 
who  arrogated  to  himself  the  authority  of  Omnipotence  had 
bestowed  the  half  of  the  world  upon  the  monarchs  who  had 
advanced  a  few  thousand  dollars  to  his  "beloved  son  Chris 
topher  Columbus  "  for  the  mighty  venture.  And  yet,  upon 
a  repetition  of  that  voyage,  we  find  one  of  the  few  men  of 
education  engaged  therein  jotting  down  in  colorless  sen 
tences  his  notes  about  the  weather,  as  though  a  journey  to 
the  Indies  were  no  longer  an  occasion  for  special  comment. 
The  novelty  of  the  Admiral's  famous  exploit  had  worn  off; 
the  finding  of  the  New  World  was  already  an  old  story. 

To  this  same  indifference  we  owe  the  poverty  of  detail 
concerning  the  companions  of  Columbus  on  this  expedi 
tion.  How  many  of  his  comrades  of  the  Discovery  were 
now  returning  with  him  we  cannot  determine.  Some  of 
them  certainly  were,  but  their  number  at  best  was  insignifi 
cant  in  comparison  with  that  of  the  new  men  who  packed 
the  vessels  far  beyond  their  normal  capacity.  When  a 
muster  was  made,  after  leaving  Spain,  it  was  found  that 
fifteen  hundred  souls  were  crowded  into  the  quarters  origi 
nally  destined  for  one  thousand.  Here  was  more  trouble 
assured  for  the  near  future;  for  the  provisions  which  were 
ample  for  the  smaller  number  would  be  scanty  for  half  as 
many  more.  A  month's  voyage,  in  an  open  caravel  under 


54          THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

a  tropical  sun,  which  would  be  barely  endurable  with  the 
larger  allowance  of  room,  would  be  insupportable  when 
this  was  reduced  by  one-half;  and  the  intruders,  as  "no 
man's  men,"  not  being  in  the  royal  pay-rolls,  would  have  a 
constant  pretext  for  complaint  and  mischief-making.  Pre 
sumably,  moreover,  they  were  in  large  part  those  who  had 
already  been  rejected  when  the  applicants  were  examined 
at  Seville,  and  hence  would  bear  no  good  will  towards  the 
commander  or  his  lieutenants.  Fortunately  for  the  Admiral, 
there  was  also  a  contingent  of  men  of  substance  and  reputa 
tion  who  might  be  depended  upon  to  support  his  authority, 
—  at  least  until  this  should  conflict  with  their  own  pride  or 
interests.  Too  many  of  them,  indeed,  held  their  appoint 
ments  direct  from  the  Crown  and  considered  themselves 
entitled,  in  case  of  dispute,  to  appeal  from  the  Admiral  to 
their  Majesties;  but  this  source  of  weakness  did  not  develop 
at  the  outset.  Rather  did  Columbus  have  cause  to  congrat 
ulate  himself  as  he  thought  of  the  men  who  had  been  chosen 
to  accompany  him, —  officers  who  had  won  distinction  in  the 
royal  armies;  officials  of  trust  and  confidence  in  Court  and 
Council;  dignitaries  of  the  great  military  orders;  church 
men  of  noted  sanctity  and  ardor.  Surely,  he  might  have 
argued,  so  goodly  a  company  could  be  trusted  to  sustain 
him  in  any  contingency  which  should  arise;  if  not  from 
any  sentiment  of  personal  loyalty,  at  least  from  the  alle 
giance  they  owed  the  Crown  and  its  interests.  Only  on 
this  hypothesis  can  we  account  for  the  complacency  with 
which  he  bade  farewell  to  Spain  and  started  on  an  absence 
which  must  necessarily  be  a  long  one,  and  during  which, 
but  for  these  men  of  the  better  sort,  he  must  stand  abso 
lutely  alone  amid  surroundings  and  in  circumstances  which 
would  appal  the  most  reckless  adventurer,  were  he  to  think 
of  facing  them  unsupported. 

How  small  a  proportion  of  his  followers  proved  worthy 
of  their  leader's  confidence  the  sequel  will  show;  but  there 
were  many  in  the  number,  disloyal  as  well  as  loyal,  who 
achieved  their  share  of  fame  in  the  opening  decades  of  our 
continent's  history.  Among  them  were  Ponce  de  Leon,  of 
melancholy  Floridian  fame;  Diego  de  Alvarado,  who  fought 


THE  BEGINNING    OF  EMIGRATION.  55 

so  masterfully  with  Pizarro;  Francisco  de  Garay,  who  ruffled 
it  so  bravely  against  Cortez;  and  many  another  who  helped 
storm  Mexico  and  threw  the  dice  for  the  spoils  of  Cuzco. 
On  the  Admiral's  flagship  was  his  younger  brother,  Diego, 
whom  Columbus  had  summoned  from  Genoa  to  share  his 
fortunes  when  he  found  himself  a  famous  man  six  months 
before.  "A  virtuous  person,  very  sensible,  peaceable  of 
disposition,  and  rather  straightforward  and  well-meaning 
than  reserved  or  designing.  He  was  always  soberly  dressed, 
almost  like  a  priest,  and  I  believe  he  thought  to  be  a 
bishop,  and  that  the  Admiral  sought  to  make  him  one,  or  at 
least  to  obtain  for  him  some  preferment  in  the  Church." 
This  is  the  opinion  of  a  writer  who  knew  all  the  brothers 
Colombo,  or  Columbus, —  Fray  Bartolome"  de  las  Casas, 
himself  afterwards  bishop  of  Chiapas  in  Yucatan  but  better 
known  by  his  nobler  title  of  Protector  of  the  Indians.  His 
father,  Pedro  de  las  Casas,  was  with  Columbus  on  this  second 
voyage,  but  not  the  son,  as  is  most  usually  asserted.  A 
vivid  contrast  to  Diego  Columbus,  who  proved  himself  no 
faint  heart  despite  his  clerical  tastes,  was  Alonso  de  Hojeda, 
a  youth  of  twenty-one  years,  who  had  already  attracted  the 
attention  of  his  sovereigns  by  his  deeds  of  prowess  and 
now  commanded  one  of  the  caravels.  Attached  to  the 
retinue  of  that  Duke  of  Medina  Celi  whose  powerful  pat 
ronage  Columbus  had  enjoyed  when  he  first  came  to  Spain 
in  1484  and  by  whom  his  project  of  discovery  was  first  pre 
sented  to  the  Queen,  Hojeda  had  the  best  of  influences  in 
his  favor  when  he  applied  to  the  Admiral  for  a  place  in 
his  second  expedition.  We  have  the  testimony  of  his  com 
mander  that  the  sinewy  young  Andalusian  soldier  was  "  a 
very  intelligent  lad  and  possessed  of  a  daring  spirit,"  on 
which  account  Columbus  entrusted  him  with  more  than  one 
important  mission.  His  fame  rests  less  on  these,  however, 
than  on  his  exploits  when  prosecuting  voyages  of  his  own 
along  the  coasts  of  Terra  Firma;  for  Hojeda  was  the  proto 
type  of  all  the  long  line  of  throat-cutting  Spanish  butchers 
who,  under  the  thin  disguise  of  an  alleged  concern  for  their 
spiritual  welfare,  carried  fire  and  sword  among  the  peace 
able  inhabitants  of  the  western  world.  Others  there  were 


56  THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

in  the  motley  throng  on  the  caravels  who  achieved  their 
measure  of  a  like  notoriety,  but  whatever  distinction  attaches 
to  priority  in  evil  belongs  here  to  Hojeda,  and  none  contrib 
uted  more  generously  than  he  to  the  black  record  of  cruelty, 
extortion  and  rapine  which  weighed  so  heavily  against  the 
brilliant  achievements  in  the  New  World  of  which  Castile 
was  so  justly  proud.  Still  one  more  figure  may  be  detached 
from  the  throng, —  that  of  Juan  de  la  Cosa,  the  seaman  who, 
even  in  the  days  of  Magellan,  Cabot,  and  Cabral,  came  to 
be  known  as  "the  ablest  pilot  of  his  times."  No  one,  not 
excepting  Columbus,  crossed  the  Atlantic  oftener  or  ex 
plored  more  persistently  the  unknown  coasts  of  the  unnamed 
continent.  Unfortunately,  later  on  he  transferred  his  alle 
giance  from  the  Admiral  to  Hojeda,  and  met  his  death,  like 
the  brave  Spaniard  he  was,  fighting  single-handed  against  a 
horde  of  savages  on  one  of  the  forays  led  by  his  hot-headed 
associate.  To  him  we  owe  the  oldest  map  of  the  western 
world  which  has  come  down  to  us,  and  to  him  Americus 
Vespucci  was  in  later  years  still  more  indebted  for  much  of 
the  knowledge  of  which  he  made  such  skilful  use. 

Vespucci  himself  was  not  engaged  in  this  voyage.  There 
is  no  evidence  to  show  (for  his  own  assertions  as  to  dates 
go  for  nothing)  that  he  ever  crossed  the  Western  Ocean 
before  1499. 1  But  he  had  a  left-handed  connection  with 
the  expedition,  for  he  was  factor,  or  manager,  or  whatever 
it  was,  for  Juanoto  Berardi,  the  contractor  who  supplied  in 
large  part  the  outfit  for  the  fleet.  No  one  at  this  late  date 

1  Professor  Fiske,  in  his  masterly  "  Discovery  of  America,"  has  laid 
the  shade  of  Vespucci  under  lasting  obligations  by  his  ingenious  and 
powerful  argument  in  support  of  Vespucci's  date,  1497,  for  the  dis 
covery  of  Yucatan,  Mexico,  and  Florida  by  Vicente  Yafiez  Pinzon  and 
Solis,  accompanied  by  the  Florentine  in  a  subordinate  capacity.  At 
the  same  time,  Vespucci  himself  asserts  that  the  natives  of  Lariab  — 
which  Professor  Fiske  identifies  with  the  Mexican  coast  —  called  them 
selves  Cariabi,  which  is  obviously  the  same  as  Caribs  and  entirely  in 
consistent  with  the  Yucatan-Mexico  theory;  and  both  Las  Casas  and 
Peter  Martyr  explicitly  declare  that  Pinzon  and  Solis  made  their 
voyage  after  the  return  of  Columbus  from  his  last  expedition  in  1504. 
Herrera,  whom  Professor  Fiske  quotes  in  support  of  his  argument, 
merely  copied  from  Las  Casas  and  omitted  the  latter' s  allusion  to 
Columbus. 


THE   BEGINNING    OF  EMIGRATION.  57 

believes  that  the  imaginative  Florentine  really  entered  into 
a  deep-laid  scheme  to  saddle  his  entirely  commonplace 
name  upon  the  continent  he  was  so  far  from  discovering. 
Perhaps  the  worst  that  can  be  charged  to  him  is  that  he 
husbanded  his  eloquence  when  a  very  few  words  of  honest 
disavowal  would  have  saved  him  from  being  branded  as  a 
fraud  for  four  hundred  years,  and  ourselves  from  the  neces 
sity  of  explaining  that,  although  we  call  ourselves  "  Ameri 
cans,"  we  really  know  better.  At  all  events,  his  first 
connection  with  the  continent  discovered  by  Columbus 
consisted  in  the  furnishing  to  this  fleet  of  a  great  quantity 
of  supplies,  —  provisions  and  ship-stores  of  all  kinds.  It 
may  have  been  only  an  unhappy  coincidence  that  most  of 
the  casks  the  contractors  supplied  leaked  so  that  water 
became  scarce  and  a  year's  store  of  wine  ran  into  the 
bilges  of  the  caravels  within  the  month,  and  that  the  bis 
cuit  and  salt  meat  could  not  stand  the  voyage.  The  Admi 
ral,  in  reporting  the  facts,  does  not  intimate  that  it  was 
Vespucci's  fault,  for  to  the  day  of  his  death  he  was  a  loyal 
friend  to  the  glib  Florentine;  but  these  untoward  events 
did  happen,  and  Vespucci  was  the  responsible  agent  for 
the  fitting-out  of  the  ships :  so  that  it  should  appear  that 
he  was  no  more  fortunate,  at  this  early  period,  in  the  integ 
rity  of  his  supplies  than  he  was,  later  on,  in  that  of  his  log 
books. 

We  wish  that  we  might  know  with  equal  assurance  of  the 
presence  on  or  absence  from  the  flagship  of  a  far  more  in 
teresting  personality  and  one  far  more  closely  connected 
with  the  finding  of  the  western  hemisphere.  Whether  among 
the  Admiral's  associates  was  to  be  seen  the  spare  form  of 
Fray  Juan  Perez,  of  Marchena,  lately  father  superior  of 
the  convent  of  La  Rabida  at  Palos,  is  unfortunately  a  dis 
puted  question.  Owing  to  the  frequent  and  excessive 
divergences  which  had  existed  in  the  computations  made 
by  the  pilots  of  the  "Santa  Maria,"  "Pinta,"  and  "Nina" 
in  the  prior  voyage,  Columbus  had  proposed  to  their 
Majesties,  before  leaving  Seville,  the  appointment  of  an 
astronomer  to  accompany  him  on  his  return  to  the  Indies, 
whose  duty  it  should  be  to  study  the  changing  stars  and 


58          THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE   ADMIRAL. 

record  his  observations  for  the  greater  security  of  the 
pilots  in  making  their  observations.  He  was  himself  far 
more  deeply  versed  in  this  art  than  most  navigators  of  the 
day  and  had  been  most  fortunate  in  his  own  estimates  of 
latitude  and  longitude  on  the  former  expedition;  but,  either 
because  he  had  found  the  risk  of  relying  on  one  set  of 
observations  to  be  too  great,  or  because  he  wished  to  have 
the  assistance  of  a  trusty  coadjutor  in  the  work  of  naviga 
tion,  he  had  brought  the  proposal  before  the  King  and 
Queen.  One  man  there  was,  abundantly  qualified  for  the 
position,  who  had  the  confidence  both  of  the  sovereigns 
and  their  Admiral.  That  one  was  the  learned  friar  whose 
interest  in  astronomy  and  its  sister  science,  geography,  had 
stood  Columbus  in  such  good  stead  when  he  knocked  at 
the  gate  of  the  little  convent  above  Palos  two  years  before, 
as  he  was  leaving  Spain,  disheartened.  As  successful 
advocate  before  the  Queen  of  the  plans  of  Columbus  for  a 
western  voyage,  there  were  peculiar  reasons  why  the  ap 
pointment  of  Juan  Perez  should  be  acceptable  to  all  inter 
ested.  Their  Maj esties  accordingly  forwarded  to  Columbus, 
just  prior  to  his  sailing,  a  commission  for  the  office  of 
astronomer,  accompanied  by  a  letter  which  strikingly 
manifests  the  extreme  consideration  with  which  they  de 
ferred  to  the  Admiral's  wishes.  "It  seems  well  to  us," 
they  wrote,  "that  you  should  take  with  you  a  capable 
astronomer,  and  that  Fray  Antonio  of  Marchena  would  be 
a  good  man  for  this  office,  both  because  he  is  skilled  in 
that  art  and  because  he  has  always  seemed  to  us  to  agree 
with  your  views.  Therefore,  if  you  think  well  of  him  for 
the  place,  let  him  go;  if  not,  then  any  one  else  you  may 
choose.  We  send  you  our  commission  for  him  with  the 
name  in  blank;  fill  it  in  for  whomever  you  think  should  go. 
But  do  not  delay  a  single  hour  on  this  account;  for  if  he 
does  not  go  now  he  can  follow  in  some  one  of  the  caravels 
which  we  shall  have  occasion  to  send  after  you  to  inform 
you  of  what  happens  here."  Unhappily  the  record  goes 
no  further;  nothing  authoritative  remains  for  us  to  deter 
mine  whether  the  priest  to  whom  America  owes  so  much 
sailed  for  the  new  lands  with  the  man  he  had  aided  so 


THE  BEGINNING    OF  EMIGRATION.  59 

efficiently  to  find  them.  It  is  not  probable  that  he  did, 
for  Columbus  makes  no  mention  of  his  friend  in  record 
ing,  later  on,  the  names  of  those  who  rendered  service  on 
this  expedition,  and  an  intentional  omission  is  not  con 
ceivable.  From  this  time  Fray  Juan  Perez  of  La  Rabida 
—  the  Fray  Antonio  of  Marchena,  as  some  called  him  — 
disappears  from  the  record. 

Little  did  the  mass  of  the  Admiral's  followers  care  for 
the  means  by  which  the  New  World l  was  discovered  or  the 
people  who  had  planned  the  deed.  All  they  cared  for  was 
to  reach  speedily  those  distant  shores  where  both  spices 
and  gold  "grew,"  and  where  there  were  none  to  oppose 
their  harvesting  save  naked  savages  or,  at  the  worst,  the  ill- 
armed  levies  of  some  Tartar  prince.  As  for  the  Sea  of 
Darkness  across  which  lay  their  path,  its  mystery  was  ex 
ploded.  The  Admiral  and  his  men  had  crossed  and  re- 
crossed  it  in  safety  a  few  months  before,  and  they  knew 
whither  to  steer.  It  was  small  concern  of  any  one  else 
where  the  new  lands  lay. 

On  Wednesday,  the  2nd  of  October,  the  eighth  day  after 
leaving  Cadiz,  the  fleet  came  in  sight  of  the  Great  Canary 
and  made  for  the  first  harbor.  Columbus  had  wished  to 
reach  Gomera,  another  of  the  Canary  group,  where  there 
was  a  settlement  of  some  size  from  which  he  could  obtain 
fresh  supplies  and  water;  but  one  of  the  caravels  had 
sprung  a  leak  and  he  made  for  the  nearest  port  to  repair  it. 
It  was  not  until  after  midnight  that  he  could  continue  his 
voyage,  and  then  a  succession  of  calms  detained  him  until 
the  5th,  when  he  anchored  before  Gomera.  Here  he 
spent  two  days  in  taking  on  wood  and  water,  fowls,  swine 
(eight  of  these  interesting  animals,  at  seventy-five  cents 
each),  sheep,  goats  and  calves,  and  a  stock  of  seeds  and 
cuttings  of  oranges,  lemons,  citrons,  melons,  and  other 
fruits  and  vegetables.  When  he  had  stopped  here  the  year 
before,  on  his  outward  voyage,  the  townspeople  had  filled 
his  inexperienced  sailors  with  wild  tales  of  the  horrors  of 

1  We  use  the  phrase  advisedly;  not  as  intimating  that  it  was  so 
called  at  the  time  of  which  we  write,  but  that  it  was  such  in  fact  to  all 
who  had  heard  of  the  strange  lands  oversea. 


60          THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

the  unknown  Western  Ocean,  and  prophesied  for  captain 
and  crew  alike  a  dreadful  annihilation.  Now  they,  too, 
looked  with  complacency  upon  the  conversion  of  what  had 
been  from  time  immemorial  the  Sea  of  Terrors  into  an 
ocean  highway,  and  cheerfully  drove  their  thriving  trade 
with  the  man  whom  twelve  months  ago  they  had  consid 
ered  a  hair-brained  enthusiast  sailing  to  a  certain  doom. 
But  the  Admiral  was  in  no  mood  to  tarry  at  Gomera  and 
exchange  "I  told  thee  so's"  with  the  men  who  had  until 
so  lately  believed  that  only  Chaos  lay  west  of  their  islands. 
By  Tuesday,  the  yth,  he  was  ready  to  hoist  all  sail  and 
stand  for  the  farther  side  of  the  Atlantic.  He  had  prom 
ised  Diego  de  Arana  and  the  thirty-eight  men  left  at  the 
fortress  of  Navidad  under  the  protection  of  King  Guacana- 
gari  that  he  would  make  all  speed  to  return  to  them;  and, 
now  that  all  was  ready,  he  was  anxious  to  redeem  his 
pledge.  Before  leaving  Gomera  he  handed  the  pilot  of 
each  vessel  a  sealed  packet,  containing  the  course  to  be 
sailed  in  order  to  reach  Guacanagari's  territory  in  His- 
paniola,  with  positive  injunctions  not  to  break  the  seals 
unless  the  squadron  should  be  dispersed  by  some  tempest. 
In  that  case  the  pilots  were  to  steer  direct  for  Navidad; 
but,  failing  such  disaster,  they  were  merely  to  follow  his 
lead.  This  precaution  he  deemed  necessary  in  order  to 
avoid  all  possibility  of  any  knowledge  of  his  route  being 
communicated  intentionally  or  by  accident  to  the  Portu 
guese;  for  he  still  expected  to  encounter  them  somewhere 
before  reaching  the  Indies.  This  provision  made,  he 
weighed  anchor  and  started  on  what  Dr.  Chanca  naively 
describes  as  "the  long  journey  it  was  proposed  to  make 
without  seeing  land."  The  fleet  encountered  calm  weather 
shortly  after  leaving  port,  and  it  was  not  until  the  i3th  that 
they  passed  Ferro,  the  westernmost  of  the  Canaries,  and 
got  fairly  out  to  sea.  Columbus  felt  some  anxiety  to  get 
clear  of  the  archipelago,  for  it  was  just  here  that,  the  year 
before,  a  Portuguese  flotilla  had  almost  succeeded  in  inter 
cepting  him  as  he  began  his  westward  passage.  No  signs 
of  an  enemy  now  appeared,  however,  and  the  expedition 
settled  down  to  the  dull  routine  of  the  voyage  that  was 
ahead  of  them. 


THE  BEGINNING    OF  EMIGRATION.  6 1 

"By  God's  blessing  favorable  weather  returned  to  us," 
Dr.  Chanca  writes,  "the  best  that  ever  fleet  enjoyed  on  so 
long  a  course;  so  that,  having  left  Ferro  on  the  i3th  of 
October,  we  saw  land  on  the  twentieth  day  thereafter.  We 
should  have  seen  it  in  fourteen  or  fifteen,  if  the  flagship 
had  been  as  good  a  sailer  as  the  other  vessels;  for  often  the 
others  had  to  shorten  sail,  as  they  were  dropping  us  far 
astern.  In  all  this  time  we  encountered  no  gale,  save  on 
the  eve  of  St.  Simon,  when  one  fell  upon  us  which  for  four 
hours  placed  us  in  great  straits." 

There  is  little  to  be  added  from  other  sources  to  the 
worthy  surgeon's  brief  record  of  the  voyage.  Columbus 
steered  a  more  southerly  course  than  in  the  previous  year, 
when  he  held  his  ships  due  west  from  the  Canaries  in  the 
belief  that  by  so  doing  he  should  the  sooner  reach  the 
Asiatic  shores.  He  was  moved  by  several  considerations 
to  strike  out  for  the  lower  latitudes  in  this  new  venture, 
but  chiefly  because  by  so  doing  he  should  more  probably 
reach  the  great  islands  which,  his  Indian  interpreters  had 
affirmed,  lay  to  the  southeast  of  Hayti,  when  he  left  the  Bay 
of  Samana  in  the  preceding  February,  homeward  bound. 
In  that  direction,  his  native  guides  assured  him,  were  to 
be  found  the  homes  of  those  savage  man-eaters  at  the 
mention  of  whose  very  names  they  shook  with  dread;  there, 
too,  was  Matinino,  the  island  peopled  only  by  warrior- 
women;  there  the  land  of  Guanin,  formed  of  solid  gold. 
To  visit  these  on  his  way  to  Hispaniola  was  motive  enough 
to  the  mind  of  an  explorer,  but  a  stronger  reason  suggested 
itself  to  Columbus.  On  the  first  voyage,  days  before  reach 
ing  San  Salvador,  both  Martin  Alonzo  and  himself  were  con 
vinced  by  the  flight  of  birds  and  other  signs  that  land  was 
to  be  found  in  the  Southwest.  The  former  was  disposed  to 
alter  their  course  to  make  it,  but  Columbus  insisted  that 
their  objective  was  the  eastern  extremity  of  Asia;  and  the 
islands  to  the  southwest,  if  such  they  were,  must  be  sought 
on  a  subsequent  cruise.  Now,  however,  he  desired  to 
ascertain,  if  it  could  be  done  without  too  great  delay,  their 
character  and  position;  for,  he  argued,  if  they  in  reality  lay 
on  the  course  to  Hispaniola  and  so  much  nearer  Spain,  as 


62          THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

appeared,  their  possession  was  a  matter  of  the  first  impor 
tance  in  view  of  the  present  elaborate  projects  of  acquisition 
and  colonization  in  the  Indies.  There  had  also  been  some 
vague  talk  while  he  was  coasting  along  Hayti  of  a  great 
mainland  to  the  south,  and  by  bearing  in  that  direction  it 
was  possible  he  might  come  upon,  or  at  least  learn  more 
about  it.  Moreover,  there  was  that  hint  of  the  Portuguese 
geographers  to  which  King  Ferdinand  had  referred,  —  that 
other  lands,  perhaps  a  continent,  would  be  found  lying 
south  of  the  equator  between  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  and 
the  line  of  demarcation  fixed  by  the  Papal  Bull;  and  this 
it  behooved  Columbus  to  investigate.  Finally,  it  was  a 
fundamental  proposition  in  the  cosmography  of  the  day 
that  the  greater  treasures  of  India  lay  in  its  southernmost 
extremity, —  wherever  that  might  be, —  or  in  the  adjacent 
islands.  Columbus  had  already  alluded  to  this  as  his  own 
conviction  in  the  journal  of  the  year  before,  and  he  now 
determined  to  go  as  far  toward  the  south  as  he  deemed 
advisable  at  the  time.  If  Cuba,  Hayti,  and  the  other 
islands  which  he  had  found  farther  north  had  yielded  such 
abundant  promise  of  future  wealth,  what  might  he  not  find 
in  the  lands  which  lay  nearer  the  equator,  in  those  glowing 
regions  which,  as  King  Ferdinand  observed,  "owing  to 
their  neighborhood  to  the  sun,  must  be  very  profitable  and 
richer  than  all  the  others"  ?  Had  it  not  been  for  his 
anxiety  to  reach  the  garrison  left  at  Navidad,  there  is 
every  reason  to  believe  that  he  would,  even  on  this  voyage, 
have  headed  well  down  into  the  southwest,  crossed  the  Line, 
and  struck  the  coast  between  the  Orinoco  and  the  Ama 
zons. 

The  fleet  pursued  its  unvexed  way  across  the  unfamiliar 
sea,  and  the  same  marvels  presented  themselves  to  the  con 
sideration  of  sailors  and  landsmen  alike  as  had  been  en 
countered  by  the  superstitious  crews  of  a  year  ago;  but  now 
there  was  no  thought  of  running  aground  on  the  fields  of 
Sargasso,  or  being  driven  into  limitless  space  by  the  monot 
onous  easterly  breeze.  Even  when,  on  the  eve  of  St. 
Simon,  after  a  furious  gale  of  several  hours'  duration,  the 
ghostly  flames  of  the  sacrosants  flickered  at  masthead  and 


THE  BEGINNING    OF  EMIGRATION.  63 

yard-arm,  they  evoked  only  a  chorus  of  Ave  Marias  and 
Laudates  from  the  ships'  companies,  who  saw  in  them  the 
good  St.  Elmo's  promise  of  smoother  seas  and  kinder  gales. 
It  was  well,  perhaps,  that  no  fiercer  storms  were  encoun 
tered;  for  a  number  of  the  ships  were  as  leaky  as  the  water- 
butts  they  carried,  and,  between  the  heat  of  the  sun,  the 
labor  of  bailing,  and  the  short  allowance  both  of  wine  and 
water,  any  prolonged  season  of  bad  weather  would  have 
found  the  fleet  ill-prepared  to  resist  it.  Fortunately,  just 
as  the  discomforts  of  the  voyage  were  beginning  to  tell  on 
the  less  enduring  of  the  company,  those  more  skilled  in 
such  matters  began  to  discern  signs  of  proximity  to  land. 
On  October  24th  the  pilots  estimated  that  they  had  made 
450  leagues  from  the  Canaries,  which  would  put  them  in 
about  that  longitude  where  Columbus  had  first  begun  to 
observe  such  signs  on  his  former  voyage  and  now  hoped 
to  strike  land.  Shortly  thereafter  a  single  flying-fish  came 
aboard  one  of  the  ships  and  was  hailed  as  a  harbinger  of 
land,  —  a  puny  herald  from  the  shores  of  the  mighty  con 
tinent  of  Asia.  Still  later,  the  heavy  massing  of  clouds  in 
the  afternoon  skies,  accompanied  by  sudden  and  violent 
downpours  of  rain,  were  interpreted  as  a  sure  portent  of  a 
neighboring  coast,  and  all  became  watchful  and  eager.  By 
the  ist  of  November  the  fleet  was  within  the  charmed  zone 
in  which  lies  the  noble  chain  of  islands  we  call  the  Carib- 
bees.  The  practised  eye  of  the  Admiral  accumulated  so 
much  evidence  of  the  nearness  of  land  that,  in  accordance 
with  his  custom  on  nearing  a  coast,  he  ordered  sail  to  be 
shortened  on  all  the  vessels  at  sundown  and  a  double  watch 
to  be  kept.  Two  days  more  were  passed  in  strained  expec 
tancy.  Little  doubt  that  they  were  busily  employed  by 
those  on  board  in  the  polishing  of  arms  and  armor,  the 
furbishing  of  gaudy  apparel,  and  the  preparation  for  a  befit- 
ing  entry  into  whatever  port  or  city  they  might  reach.  The 
weariness  and  indolence  of  the  long  sea  journey  gave  way 
to  extravagant  anticipation  and  the  construction  of  fan 
tastic  dreams:  the  adventurous  were  heroes  all  in  their 
own  conceit;  the  covetous,  rich  beyond  the  dreams  of  avar 
ice;  the  pious,  blessed  with  a  harvest  of  countless  rescued 


64          THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

souls;  the  careless,  happy  in  the  thought  of  liberty  and 
license.  It  was  not  in  human  nature,  especially  Latin 
nature,  to  be  otherwise  than  buoyant,  in  their  situation. 
At  any  moment  the  lookout  in  the  tall  castle  at  the  bows 
might  sing  out  that  he  saw  the  outlines  of  the  new  world 
which  held  the  assured  fortunes  of  every  man  of  the  fifteen 
hundred.  Of  the  conditions,  environments,  or  qualities  of 
those  fortunes  they  neither  knew  nor  cared ;  suffice  it  that 
they  were  there.  Meantime  they  were  sailing  in  a  world 
of  magic,  where  the  skies  were  as  blue  as  their  own  Medi 
terranean  seas  and  the  ocean  a  so  much  deeper  azure  that 
the  sky  was  pale  by  contrast;  where  by  day  the  cloudless 
vault  above  was  sustained  by  massive  foundations  of  snowy 
vapor  lying  on  the  horizon's  edge,  which  at  the  sun's 
setting  became  domes  of  burnished  gold  supporting  vast 
arches  of  glittering  opal  and  mother-of-pearl  suspended 
above  a  lake  of  fire;  where  at  night  the  familiar  stars,  though 
all  misplaced,  seemed  far  nearer  and  more  brilliant  for  the 
change,  and  the  very  air  itself  took  on  a  strange,  caressing 
sweetness;  where  at  all  times,  by  day  as  well  as  by  night, 
the  steadfast  Trade-wind  hummed  in  the  rigging  and  sang 
past  the  ear  as  though  the  spirits  of  the  mermaids  were 
abroad.  There  was  reason  even  for  the  men  of  favored 
Seville  and  Cordova  to  feel  that  they  were  in  another  and 
more  beautiful  world. 

On  Saturday,  the  2nd  of  November,  the  pilots  made  their 
computations  of  the  distance  sailed  since  leaving  Ferro. 
Some  made  it  780  leagues,  others  800,  others  more  or  less. 
The  variation  was  not  great  and  their  substantial  agreement 
heightened  the  confidence  all  felt  of  soon  seeing  land.  The 
signs  multiplied  as  the  day  wore  on,  and  the  Admiral's 
trained  eye  saw  in  the  color  of  the  water,  the  haziness  of 
the  horizon,  and  other  like  omens  the  certainty  of  an  early 
landfall.  The  night  was  passed  in  anxious  watching.  Who 
can  doubt  that  the  keenest  lookout  was  that  of  the  Admiral 
himself?  No  vagrant  light  appeared,  as  on  that  wakeful 
October  night  of  the  past  year,  to  hint  of  an  inhabited 
country  hidden  by  the  curtain  of  darkness,  nor  did  a 
friendly  moon,  as  then,  ride  overhead  to  illumine  the  black 


THE   BEGINNING    OF  EMIGRATION.  65 

seas  and  touch  with  silver  the  distant  beaches.  Yet,  as 
steadily  as  the  passage  of  the  hours,  more  than  one  huge 
bulk  was  rising  above  the  horizon  and  arraying  itself  across 
the  path  of  the  hurrying  ships  as  they  noiselessly  drove 
deeper  into  the  western  shadows.  So  rapidly  did  these 
grand  forms  lift,  that  the  nearest  one  at  length  loomed  for 
bidding  and  distinct  against  the  dusky  sky,  even  in  that 
darkest  hour  which  is  said  to  precede  the  dawn;  and  the 
weary  watchers  on  the  Admiral's  ship  were  startled  by  a 
sudden  cry  out  of  the  darkness,  "  The  largess  to  me,  Senor 
Admiral,  for  there  is  land!"  The  cry  was  echoed  from 
ship  to  ship,  and  answering  shouts  bore  witness  to  the  joy 
with  which  the  welcome  tidings  were  received.  "  I  do  not 
know  any  one  who  had  not  seen  enough  of  water,"  pithily 
observes  Dr.  Chanca,  in  recording  the  delight  with  which 
the  news  was  hailed;  and  we  may  accept  his  sentiment  as 
that  of  his  fifteen  hundred  companions. 

The  impatience  of  the  waiting  voyagers  was  not  long 
taxed,  for  within  an  hour  the  gray  morning  light  began  to 
break,  and  even  before  the  rising  sun  appeared  above  the 
horizon  its  rays  were  gilding  the  stately  summits  which  rose 
ahead  of  the  fleet  to  a  height  of  5000  feet.  It  was  day 
break  on  Sunday,  Domingo,  the  3rd  of  November,  and  the 
Admiral  christened  the  island  (for  such  it  clearly  was)  la 
is/a  Dominica  (Sunday  Island).  To  the  right  and  left 
other  majestic  outlines  showed  themselves,  betokening 
other  islands  within  easy  sail;  but  for  the  present  all  eyes 
were  rivetted  on  the  panorama  unfolding  before  them  as  the 
sunlight,  driving  the  white  mists  before  it,  crept  down  the 
mountain  sides,-  penetrated  the  deep  valleys,  and  at  length 
flooded  sea  and  land  with  its  early  splendor.  None,  except 
the  Admiral  and  such  as  had  already  watched  with  him  from 
a  vessel's  deck  the  breaking  of  day  on  the  sierras  of  Eastern 
Cuba  and  Northern  Hayti,  had  ever  witnessed  such  a  vision 
before ;  probably  those  who  now  saw  for  the  first  time  the 
glory  of  early  morning  among  the  Caribbees  never  again 
felt,  from  a  similar  cause,  the  same  emotions  of  exuberant 
delight  and  admiration.  Imagination  cannot  picture  a 
more  romantic  and  inspiring  ending  to  a  voyage  whose 

5 


66          THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

result  was  so  purely  speculative,  than  to  sail  from  the  dark 
ness  of  a  night  like  all  that  had  preceded  it  into  the 
unsullied  beauty  of  early  day  off  the  windward  shores  of 
Dominique. 

Orders  were  issued  that  the  ships  and  their  crews  should 
be  dressed  in  gala  array  preparatory  to  the  formal  act  of 
landing  and  taking  possession  of  the  new  discovery.  The 
vessels  were  brought  closer  to  the  land  and  an  unavailing 
search  made  for  some  accessible  port.  They  had  struck 
the  coast  where  the  rugged  conglomerate  cliffs  rise  precipi 
tously  from  the  water's  edge,  and  although  these  were  broken 
here  and  there,  so  that  deep  ravines  and  open  valleys  could 
be  seen  leading  up  into  the  heart  of  the  towering  ranges 
beyond,  no  safe  anchorage  could  be  found.  For  more  than 
a  league  the  Admiral  led  the  way  along  the  shore,  without 
discovering  a  harbor  or  a  trace  of  habitation.  As  far  as 
the  eye  could  penetrate  inland  the  island,  from  the  ocean's 
margin  to  the  summit  of  the  idle  craters  which  crowned  the 
loftiest  peaks,  was  covered  with  a  dense  forest.  The  men 
were  impatient  to  explore  the  secrets  of  a  country  which 
was  literally  hidden  beneath  so  glorious  a  wealth  of  verdure 
and  exhaled  on  the  morning  air  a  subtle  perfume  suggestive 
of  myriads  of  flowers  and  spices,  at  a  season  when  foliage 
and  flowers  were  a  rarity  in  their  own  Spain;  but  the  Admiral 
would  not  risk  his  boats  or  his  people  in  the  venture.  Some 
ten  or  twelve  miles  to  the  north  of  Dominica  he  had  observed 
another  island,  much  smaller  in  size  and  apparently  much 
more  accessible,  since  its  outlines  were  far  less  mountainous 
than  those  of  the  larger  one.  Detaching  a  caravel  to  con 
tinue  the  reconnoissance  for  a  port  along  the  coast  of 
Dominica,  he  sailed  northwards  with  the  remainder  of  the 
fleet.  On  nearing  the  island  he  found  that  it  offered  no 
difficulty  to  his  disembarking,  and,  selecting  a  convenient 
harbor,  brought  his  ships  to  anchor  and  made  preparations 
for  the  solemn  ceremony  of  taking  possession  of  these  new 
territories  and  their  circumjacent  seas  for  the  Crown  of 
Spain. 

Shortly  after  noon  the  placid  waters  were  alive  with  scores 
of  small  craft,  plying  between  the  vessels  and  the  strand. 


THE  BEGINNING    OF  EMIGRATION.  6? 

The  Admiral  entered  his  barge,  grasping  the  royal  standard 
with  both  hands,  and  was  rowed  ashore  with  all  the  cere 
mony  established  for  the  passage  of  an  officer  of  his  rank. 
He  was  followed  by  the  clergy,  his  principal  officers,  by  the 
commanders  of  the  vessels,  their  pilots,  the  men  of  rank 
attached  to  the  expedition,  and,  finally,  by  a  large  propor 
tion  of  the  ships'  companies  and  crews.  Once  landed,  a 
convenient  spot  was  chosen  and  the  forces  arrayed  around 
their  leader,  who,  unfurling  the  royal  banner  with  one  hand 
and  unsheathing  his  sword  with  the  other,  took  possession 
of  the  islands  in  sight,  the  sea  which  embraced  them,  and 
all  the  unseen  lands  its  waves  might  lave.  This  he  did, 
Dr.  Chanca  tells  us,  "in  the  manner  provided  by  law"; 
a  truly  Castilian  way  of  reporting  the  appropriation  of 
that  half  of  the  world's  surface  whose  existence  had 
been  denied  within  the  twelve-month.  The  worthy  sur 
geon,  doubtless,  meant  no  more  than  that  his  chief 
broke  the  branches,  dipped  up  the  water,  and  piled  the 
hillock  of  earth  as  he  had  done  at  San  Salvador  on  the  day 
of  its  discovery,  practising  therein  the  form  adapted  by 
still  earlier  discoverers  on  African  shores  and  mid-Atlantic 
islands.  To  this  simple  political  ceremony  succeeded  the 
more  elaborate  offices  of  the  Church,  and  the  new  Viceroy 
set  an  example  of  attentive  reverence  to  his  followers  as 
Fray  Boi'l  and  his  dozen  of  tonsured  associates  recited,  for 
the  first  time  in  the  western  lands,  those  prayers  and  invo 
cations  which  were  to  prove  so  fatal  a  shibboleth  to  their 
unhappy  natives. 

The  Admiral  named  this  lesser  island  Maria  Galante,  — 
from  the  vessel  he  commanded,  so  it  is  said;  but  it  is  more 
likely  that  the  name  both  of  ship  and  island  had  a  common 
origin  in  the  invocation  to  Holy  Mary,  Full  of  Grace,  — 
Galante.  As  soon  as  the  formalities  of  taking  possession 
were  finished  and  duly  certified  to  by  the  attendant  notary, 
the  assembled  throng  dispersed  in  all  directions,  eager  to 
feast  their  ocean-wearied  sight  upon  the  strange  nature 
which  surrounded  them.  They  noted  the  dense  forests 
which  grew  to  the  water's  edge,  the  unfamiliar  palms  and 
vines  which  filled  their  dark  recesses,  the  novel  spectacle 


68    THE  LAST  VOYAGES  OF  THE  ADMIRAL. 

of  blossom,  fruit,  and  bud  upon  one  and  the  same  tree,  and 
the  absence  of  any  sign  of  the  approaching  winter's  touch 
upon  the  lavish  vegetation  around  them.  Some  of  the 
saunterers  found  a  tree,  the  fragrance  of  whose  bark  and 
foliage  convinced  them  that  it  bore  the  coveted  cloves; 
others  cautiously  gathered  and  examined  the  singular  fruits 
which  abounded  on  all  sides;  still  others  plucked  the  dainty 
manzanilla  and,  deceived  by  its  beauty,  tasted  warily  of  it, 
only  to  have  mouth  and  face  swollen  and  deformed  by  the 
violence  of  its  poison.  Much  as  there  was  to  delight  the 
eye  and  charm  the  senses  of  men  who  had  been  cooped 
unwholesomely  in  narrow  quarters  for  so  many  tedious 
weeks,  it  soon  became  apparent  that  Maria  Galante  would 
yield  nothing  more  substantial  to  protracted  exploration. 
No  signs  of  habitation  were  found,  and  the  Admiral,  after 
passing  two  or  three  hours  on  the  island,  gave  orders  for  his 
people  to  reembark  on  the  ships.  His  object  was  to  make 
sail  at  once  for  another  island,  of  huge  bulk  and  lofty  height, 
which  lay  at  a  distance  of  some  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  to 
the  north  of  Maria  Galante;  but  he  found  it  necessary  to 
wait  until  late  in  the  afternoon  for  the  return  of  the  caravel 
he  had  detached  to  coast  along  Dominica.  This  vessel 
reported  that  she  had  at  length  discovered  a  good  port  and 
seen  both  houses  and  people,  so  the  Admiral  was  satisfied 
that  these  lordly  islands  were  not  unpopulated.  The  fact 
was  of  importance  to  him,  because,  according  to  his  reckon 
ing,  these  were  either  the  homes  of  the  Caribs,  or  Cannibals, 
of  whom  the  natives  of  Hayti  and  Cuba  had  told  such  grue 
some  tales,  or  else  they  were  the  populous  lands  of  gold 
which,  the  same  informants  indicated,  lay  to  the  southward. 
The  Admiral  lay  at  anchor  that  night,  taught  by  his  experi 
ence  among  the  shallow  waters  of  the  Bahamas  and  Antilles 
not  to  make  for  the  islands  in  the  darkness;  but  as  soon  as 
it  was  daylight  he  left  Maria  Galante,  and  steered  for  that 
end  of  the  northern  island  where,  in  the  words  of  Dr. 
Chanca,  "  there  was  a  great  mountain  which  seemed  to  want 
to  reach  to  heaven."  As  the  fleet  drew  nearer  to  this  peak, 
the  observers  noticed  that  near  its  summit  a  broad  strip  or 
band  of  dazzling  white  was  visible,  stretching  towards  its 


THE  BEGINNING    OF  EMIGRATION.  69 

base ;  and  bets  were  freely  made  as  to  whether  this  was  a 
stratum  of  rock,  a  road,  or  an  immense  waterfall.  On  a 
closer  approach  it  was  seen  that  from  the  loftiest  summit  of 
the  mountain  several  cataracts  descended,  the  most  notable 
of  all  being  the  one  which  had  attracted  the  Spaniards' 
interest  from  so  great  a  distance,  and  which,  from  their 
decks,  "appeared  to  fall  from  the  skies."  This  was  but 
one  of  the  elements  of  unwonted  grandeur  in  the  scene 
which  lay  before  them  as  they  drew  near  to  the  southern 
shores  of  the  noble  island.  Its  coast  was  less  forbidding 
than  that  of  Dominica;  but  there  was  the  same  succession 
of  gigantic  terraces  sweeping  inland  and  upward  from  the 
sea,  the  same  deep  glens  and  open  valleys,  the  same  tow 
ering  precipices,  strangely  wooded  craters,  and  piercing 
peaks,  and  over  all  was  the  same  dense  covering  of  deep 
forest  shades.  Many  a  wanderer  who  has  seen  far  more  of 
the  globe  than  was  open  to  Dr.  Chanca's  experience  in 
1493  will  be  disposed  to  agree  with  him  that,  as  seen  in  the 
early  morning,  the  landscape  dominated  by  the  great  Sou- 
friere  and  Sans  Tacher  of  Guadalupe  is  "  the  most  beauti 
ful  thing  in  the  world." 

As  soon  as  the  fleet  drew  near  the  island  the  Admiral 
despatched  a  caravel  of  light  draught  to  look  for  a  conven 
ient  harbor.  The  little  vessel  returned  in  a  few  hours, 
and  her  captain  reported  that  a  couple  of  leagues  along  the 
coast  he  had  found  a  safe  port  and  effected  a  landing  near 
a  native  settlement,  which  had  been  deserted  by  its  inhabi 
tants  as  soon  as  they  saw  the  Spaniards.  In  the  houses  were 
found  a  quantity  of  cotton,  both  unworked  and  in  yarn,  a 
store  of  food,  some  parrots  of  extraordinary  size  and  beauty, 
and,  most  important  of  all,  "four  or  five  bones  from  the 
legs  and  arms  of  men."  Of  all  these  articles  the  captain 
presented  his  commander  with  specimens,  but  the  Admiral 
neglected  the  others  for  the  relics  of  departed  humanity. 
What,  to  the  general  sight,  were  only  evidences  of  the  fero 
cious  habits  of  the  wild  races  of  these  Indies,  were  to  him 
a  proof  of  the  correctness  of  his  conclusions  as  to  the  sit 
uation  of  the  dreaded  Caribs,  at  whose  mere  names  the 
peaceful  islanders  of  San  Salvador  and  Cuba  had  paled  and 
shaken  with  terror. 


70         THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

"As  soon  as  we  saw  them,"  Dr.  Chanca  writes,  "we  sus 
pected  that  these  were  the  islands  of  the  Caribes,  which  are 
inhabited  by  people  who  eat  human  flesh;  because  the 
Admiral,  guided  by  the  signs  which  had  been  made  to  him 
on  the  previous  voyage  as  to  this  locality  by  the  Indians  of 
the  other  islands  he  had  before  discovered,  had  directed 
his  course  to  reach  them,  not  only  because  they  are  nearest 
to  Spain,  but  also  because  by  this  route  is  the  shortest  way 
to  come  to  Hispaniola,  where  he  had  before  left  his  people. 
To  them  we  have  come,  by  the  mercy  of  God  and  the  wis 
dom  of  the  Admiral,  as  directly  as  though  we  followed  a 
beaten  and  familiar  road." 

There  is  no  warrant  for  challenging  the  sincerity  or  truth 
fulness  of  this  surgeon's  report.  It  is  free  from  all  trace 
of  servile  laudation  of  his  commander's  acts  and  deeds;  in 
fact,  it  is  almost  unique  among  the  early  records  of  the 
period  in  the  straightforward,  professional  manner  in  which 
it  relates  events  as  they  occurred.  In  ascribing,  under 
Providence,  to  the  foresight  and  rare  ability  of  Columbus 
the  successful  conclusion  of  a  voyage  planned  on  such  broad 
and  comprehensive  lines  that  it  was  intended,  if  possible, 
to  establish  a  permanent  route  to  the  new  possessions,  while 
it  solved  the  problem  as  to  the  habitat  of  the  fierce  savages 
who  threatened  the  peace  of  the  proposed  colonies,  Dr. 
Chanca  did  no  more  than  justice.  While  cruising  along 
the  shores  of  Cuba  and  Hayti,  Columbus  had  had  pointed 
out  to  him  every  quarter  of  the  compass  as  that  in  which 
the  richest  countries  lay.  All  he  had  seen,  besides  those 
two  great  islands,  were  the  Bahamas  and  the  hazy  outlines 
of  Porto  Rico  as,  homeward  bound,  he  left  the  Bay  of 
Samana.  With  a  world  to  choose  from,  he  so  planned  his 
voyage  as  to  settle  the  most  immediately  important  geo 
graphical  and  political  problems  before  him,  without  unduly 
delaying  his  arrival  at  the  fortress  of  Navidad;  and  in  so 
doing,  we  believe  with  Dr.  Chanca,  he  gave  new  evidence 
of  extraordinary  sagacity  and  courage. 

It  was  too  late  in  the  afternoon  when  the  captain  of  the 
exploring  caravel  made  his  report  for  the  Admiral  to  attempt 
a  landing;  so  he  contented  himself  with  sailing  along  the 


THE   BEGINNING    OF  EMIGRATION.  71 

coast  for  a  couple  of  leagues,  and  came  to  anchor  in  the 
port  selected  by  the  caravel.  As  the  squadron  passed  along 
shore,  numbers  of  native  cabins  were  seen  and  their  inhabi 
tants  could  be  descried  fleeing  to  the  woods  as  the  strange 
winged  craft  drew  near;  so  the  Admiral  gave  orders  that  at 
daybreak  a  party  should  land  with  the  Lucayan  interpreters 
and  endeavor  to  communicate  with  the  people. 

To  the  magnificent  island  whose  grand  volcanic  shapes 
were  fast  hiding  in  the  gathering  darkness  he  gave  the  name 
of  Guadalupe,  in  fulfilment  of  a  promise  made  to  the 
monks  of  a  convent  nestled  among  the  mountains  of  that 
name  in  the  province  of  Estramadura,  where  he  had  gone 
to  pay  one  of  the  vows  assumed  by  him  during  the  fearful 
tempests  encountered  on  his  homeward  voyage  the  year 
before. 


IV. 

THE    ISLANDS   OF   THE   CANNIBALS. 

THERE  was  no  lack  of  matter  for  conversation  aboard 
the  Spanish  ships  as  they  lay  at  anchor  on  the 
night  of  November  4th,  but  we  may  doubt  whether"  much 
time  was  spent  in  discussing  the  beauties  of  Nature. 
Officers  and  men  alike  had  heard  from  the  Admiral  and 
his  earlier  followers  of  the  bloodthirsty  savages  who  drove 
their  huge  canoes  of  forty  and  fifty  paddles  across  wide 
stretches  of  those  quiet  seas  and  ravaged  from  the  most 
distant  islands  the  living  materials  for  their  horrid  ban 
quets,  and  here  they  were  at  close  quarters  with  these  very 
demons.  As  the  fleet  made  its  way  to  the  anchorage,  all 
had  seen  small  parties  of  natives  scurrying  into  the  woods; 
and  the  Admiral  had  remarked  that  they  were  as  naked  as 
the  tribes  he  had  met  with  on  his  former  voyage.  Later, 
came  the  report  of  the  captain  of  the  caravel,  supported  by 
the  parcel  of  human  bones;  and  thus  ample  food  was  fur 
nished  for  the  active  Spanish  imaginations  to  work  their 
wildest.  The  prospect  of  being  brought  into  actual  contact, 
perhaps  conflict,  on  the  morrow  with  the  savage  anthro 
pophagi  of  the  Indies,  of  whom  such  wild  tales  were  told  in 
European  markets  and  seaports,  must  have  excited  many  a 
thrill  of  qualified  anticipation  among  the  soldiers  and  men- 
at-arms  and  led  to  many  a  speculation  and  boast.  Fighting 
was  no  novelty  to  the  seasoned  veterans  of  the  Moorish  wars, 
but  they  might  well  dispute  as  to  how  it  were  best  to 
act  among  such  impenetrable  forests,  and  be  pardoned  a 
shudder  as  they  spoke  of  the  doom  that  awaited  the  prisoner. 
72 


THE  ISLANDS   OF   THE    CANNIBALS.  73 

The  Admiral  lost  no  time  in  putting  his  men  to  the 
proof.  At  daybreak  he  sent  two  of  his  captains  on  shore, 
accompanied  by  a  strong  escort.  They  entered  a  neigh 
boring  village  and  were  surprised  to  find  that,  while  most 
of  the  inhabitants  fled,  two  young  men  and  half  a  dozen 
women  ran  toward  and  not  away  from  the  Spaniards. 
These  they  received,  and  succeeded  also  in  capturing  a 
number  of  the  fugitives,  including  a  little  Carib  who  was 
abandoned  by  the  warrior  in  charge  of  him.  After  exam 
ining  carefully  the  houses  and  their  contents,  the  recon 
noitring  party  divided,  some  returning  with  their  prisoners 
to  the  ships,  while  the  rest  followed  the  paths  which  led 
inland  from  the  village.  Somewhere  in  the  village  they 
came  upon  what  appeared  to  be  the  sternpost  of  a  Euro 
pean  vessel,  and  an  iron  dish,  or  pan.  The  former  was 
supposed  to  be  a  piece  of  wreckage  carried  across  the 
Atlantic  by  wind  or  current,  or  else  the  timber  from  the 
Admiral's  wrecked  flagship  of  the  first  voyage.  The  pan 
they  could  not  account  for.  There  is  no  reason  to  doubt 
that  more  than  one  ship  had  been  driven  across  the  Atlan 
tic  and  stranded  on  western  shores  prior  to  the  advent  of 
Columbus;  but  we  know  no  more  than  those  Spanish  sailors 
did,  as  they  debated  the  origin  of  the  strange  jetsam 
among  the  palm-thatched  huts  of  Guadalupe.  The  young 
Indians  were  brought  before  the  Admiral,  and,  with  the  aid 
of  the  San  Salvador  interpreters,  made  themselves  fairly 
well  understood.  They  came,  they  said,  from  Buriquen 
(Porto  Rico  we  name  it),  having  been  captured  there  by  the 
Caribs  on  one  of  their  man  hunts.  This  island  where  they 
now  were  was  called  Turuqueira,  and  was  the  chief  home 
of  the  Caribs,  although  they  also  dwelt  on  Dominica  (which 
they  called  Ceyre)  and  another  island  known  to  them  as 
Ayay.  They  and  their  men  companions  were  reserved  by 
their  captors  for  future  consumption;  the  women  who  had 
fled  to  the  Spaniards  were  also  captives,  but  were  not 
considered  eligible  for  the  cooking-pot.  Their  destina 
tion  was  matrimony,  or  the  Caribbean  substitute  therefor. 
They  accounted  for  the  appearance  of  so  few  Carib  men 
among  the  natives  seen  by  saying  that  ten  canoe-loads  had 


74          THE   LAST   VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

lately  gone  off  on  a  man  hunt,  leaving  only  their  women  to 
guard  the  captives.  To  prove  them,  the  Admiral  asked  if 
they  knew  where  Hayti  was.  They  pointed  at  once  to  the 
northeast,  where  it  lay,  though  distant  from  Guadalupe  by 
more  than  500  miles,  as  the  homing  seabird  flies.  All  this 
they  told,  we  are  informed,  "as  well  as  they  could,  with 
hands  and  eyes,  and  motions  and  gestures  of  a  soul  in 
distress";  and  the  Admiral  was  greatly  interested  by  their 
narrative. 

Meanwhile,  a  boat  had  returned  to  shore  for  the  Span 
iards  who  had  remained,  and  it  soon  returned  with  most  of 
them,  and  also  a  number  of  women,  who,  they  affirmed,  had 
fled  to  them  as  they  marched  through  the  neighborhood. 
The  Admiral,  somewhat  suspicious  of  these  repeated  ap 
peals  for  protection,  ordered  that  this  last  batch  of  refugees 
should  be  returned  to  the  beach,  loading  them  with  beads, 
bells,  and  looking-glasses  as  an  indication  of  good  will. 
No  sooner  were  they  landed  and  the  boat  once  more  on  the 
way  back  to  the  ships,  than  the  natives  appeared  from  the 
woods  and  coolly  appropriated  everything  the  women  had 
received.  Later  on  in  the  day,  when  some  of  the  ships'  boats 
went  ashore  for  water,  the  same  women  came  running  down 
to  them  again,  accompanied  by  two  boys  and  a  young  man, 
all  imploring  to  be  taken  off.  This  time  they  were  kept, 
and  added  to  the  Admiral's  fund  of  information  by  giving 
him  the  names  of  a  multitude  of  islands  which  they  affirmed 
to  lie  in  those  seas,  as  well  as  of  a  certain  "great  land," 
which  the  Admiral  thought  was  probably  Terra  Firma. 

All  this  coming  and  going  and  making  of  presents  had 
at  last  convinced  the  Caribs  themselves  that  no  harm  was 
intended  to  them,  and  gradually  all  their  women  and  a  few 
men  came  down  to  the  waterside  to  examine  the  ships,  and 
even  waded  out  to  inspect  the  small  boats  when  these  drew 
up  on  the  beach.  The  Spaniards  called  out  "  tayno,  tayno" 
which  was  the  word  used  by  the  natives  of  Hayti  and  the 
Bahamas  to  signify  anything  good  or  pleasing.  But,  as 
sometimes  happens  with  the  linguistic  efforts  of  more 
modern  travellers,  this  well-meant  greeting  was  gibberish 
to  the  Caribs,  and  they  remained  on  their  guard,  ready  to 


THE  ISLANDS    OF   THE    CANNIBALS.  ?$ 

take  to  their  heels  at  the  first  movement  made  by  their 
strange  visitors  to  leave  the  boats. 

The  Admiral  saw  no  reason  for  lingering  at  Guadalupe. 
He  had  verified  the  nature  of  the  people  inhabiting  these 
islands  and  ascertained  their  condition.  From  the  captives 
he  had  learned  approximately  the  distance  to  Hispaniola 
and  the  existence  of  many  islands  on  the  way  thither,  and 
he  was  disposed  to  hoist  sail  and  pursue  his  cruise  without 
further  delay.  So  far,  no  conflict  had  occurred  with  the 
Caribs,  and  he  wished  to  avoid  one.  There  had  been 
enough  of  mild  excitement  and  military  activity  to  gratify 
the  ardor  of  his  soldiers  and  yet  not  expose  them  to  the 
danger  of  becoming  provender  for  the  truculent  man-eaters. 
His  waiting  garrison  at  Navidad  was  ever  in  his  mind,  and 
by  leaving  Guadalupe  before  nightfall  he  would  be  one  day 
nearer  them.  To  his  surprise  and  disgust,  a  peremptory 
difficulty  barred  his  departure.  Diego  Marquez,  the  royal 
inspector  and  captain  of  one  of  the  caravels,  had  gone 
ashore  at  daybreak,  it  now  appeared,  with  two  of  the  pilots 
and  a  force  of  eight  armed  men,  and  had  not  since  been 
seen  or  heard  of.  This  was  in  direct  defiance  of  the  Ad 
miral's  authority  and  orders,  and  he  did  not  attempt  to  hide 
his  displeasure.  Searching-parties  were  hastily  sent  on 
shore  with  orders  to  enter  the  forest  at  various  points, 
sounding  trumpets  and  firing  arquebuses  to  attract  the 
missing  party.  The  remainder  of  the  afternoon  was  spent 
unavailingly  in  this  manner,  and  darkness  fell  with  no 
signs  of  the  absent  men.  All  the  gloomy  conjectures  of 
the  preceding  night  were  now  revived.  To  the  perils  of  the 
wilderness  were  added  the  horrors  of  an  ambuscade  by  the 
treacherous  cannibals.  Some  little  comfort  was  gathered 
by  their  shipmates  from  the  fact  that  Marquez  was  accom 
panied  by  his  pilots;  for,  they  argued,  with  their  aid  it 
would  be  easier  for  him  to  extricate  himself  if  he  was 
merely  lost  in  the  woods.  If  he  had  been  surrounded  and 
overwhelmed  by  the  natives, —  well,  the  bundles  of  bones 
and  the  stories  told  by  the  rescued  men  and  women  indi 
cated  what  would  be  the  fate  of  inspector,  pilots,  and  men-at- 
arms.  In  the  morning  the  Admiral  despatched  new  search- 


76          THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE   ADMIRAL. 

ing-parties,  each  with  its  trumpet  and  with  instructions  to 
penetrate  the  forest  in  different  quarters  and  spare  no  effort 
to  find  traces  of  the  lost  men.  The  morning  passed  with 
leaden  feet.  "Every  hour  seemed  a  year,"  Columbus  tells 
us,  for  he  was  impatient  to  start  for  Hispaniola.  If  the 
dark  wilderness  of  the  woods  baffled  his  search,  he  would 
have  to  abandon  the  men  to  their  fate  and  proceed  with  his 
voyage.  He  might,  indeed,  leave  Marquez's  own  caravel 
behind,  with  directions  to  wait  a  reasonable  time  and  then 
to  follow  the  fleet;  but  he  feared  there  was  small  chance 
of  her  finding  Hispaniola  alone.  When  the  scouting- 
parties  returned  at  evening,  with  no  other  tidings  than  a 
discouraging  account  of  the  impassability  of  the  tangled 
woods,  the  Admiral  reverted  to  his  determination  to  pro 
ceed  without  the  absent  party.  He  was  loth  to  do  this,  for 
it  seemed  like  abandoning  his  men  to  the  most  terrible  of 
deaths;  but  the  welfare  of  his  1500  other  companions  de 
manded  that  he  should  not  keep  them  confined  in  their 
cramped  quarters  for  an  indefinite  time,  and  he  felt, 
besides,  that  his  first  duty  was  to  reach  his  garrison  at 
Navidad.  After  much  consideration  and  discussion  he 
resolved  to  make  a  final  effort.  Liberty  was  given  to  all  in 
the  fleet  who  wished  to  go  on  shore  during  the  day  and 
there  "disport  themselves  and  wash  their  clothes"  at 
pleasure,  with  such  restrictions  as  discipline  demanded. 
Alonso  de  Hojeda  was  ordered  to  take  forty  picked  men 
and  get  on  the  track  of  the  missing  party,  if  possible.  He 
was  also  instructed  to  make  careful  observations  of  all  he 
saw,  as  he  penetrated  into  the  interior  of  the  island,  and 
report  upon  its  products  and  character.  The  task  was  both 
difficult  and  dangerous,  and  the  Admiral  selected  Hojeda 
as  qualified  to  render  the  best  account  of  himself  in  its 
execution. 

Day  after  day  passed  without  any  word  of  the  lost  inspec 
tor,  or  of  those  who  were  searching  for  him.  The  crowd 
of  men  of  all  degrees  who  hastened  ashore  to  avail  them 
selves  of  the  liberty  granted  found  only  too  much  in  the 
course  of  their  investigations  to  confirm  their  gloomiest 
apprehensions  as  to  the  lot  of  their  missing  comrades.  As 


THE  ISLANDS   OF  THE    CANNIBALS.  JJ 

they  entered  the  native  cabins  within  a  wide  radius  from 
the  harbor  and  examined  with  curious  interest  all  that  they 
found,  the  Spaniards  were  horrified  to  meet  with  repeated 
evidences  of  the  truth  of  the  ghastly  tales  they  had  heard 
concerning  the  Caribs.  Human  bones  neatly  arranged  in 
parcels,  carefully  prepared  skulls  hanging  from  the  rafters 
of  many  of  the  huts,  other  bones  from  which  everything 
eatable  had  been  picked  "so  that  nothing  remained  on 
them  except  what  was  too  hard  to  gnaw,"  and  "  in  one 
house  the  neck  of  a  man  cooking  in  a  pot,"  were  some  of 
the  tangible  proofs  of  the  gastronomic  tastes  of  the  Indians 
of  Turuqueira.  With  these  suggestive  examples  before 
them,  the  Admiral  and  his  officers  subjected  the  fugitives 
who  were  under  his  protection  to  a  close  questioning  as  to 
the  habits  of  their  captors.  They  answered  without  reluc 
tance  all  that  was  asked  of  them,  the  women  in  particular 
speaking  with  great  freedom, —  as  of  a  matter  not  inti 
mately  affecting  themselves,  perhaps,  since  they  ran  no  risk 
of  ending  in  the  manner  under  investigation.  According 
to  them,  the  Caribs  of  the  three  islands  already  mentioned 
systematically  raided  the  islands  in  those  seas,  sometimes 
pursuing  their  expeditions  for  a  distance  of  three  or  four 
hundred  miles.  As  a  rule,  they  brought  together  a  goodly 
fleet  of  canoes  and  presented  a  respectable  force ;  the  party 
at  present  away  in  the  ten  canoes  from  Guadalupe  would 
represent  four  or  five  hundred  men,  for  example.  They 
were  armed  with  bows  and  arrows,  and  lances  or  darts, 
headed  with  sharpened  fragments  of  turtle,  fish,  or  human 
bones,  which  were  quite  sufficient  to  kill  a  naked  enemy. 
On  reaching  the  island  they  proposed  to  harry,  the  Caribs 
conducted  themselves  much  as  the  Arab  slavers  of  Central 
Africa  do  nowadays.  They  killed  all  who  opposed  them, 
but  wasted  no  unnecessary  lives,  capturing  all  the  men  and 
women  possible.  Such  men  as  were  slain  were  eaten  on 
the  spot;  the  living  captives  were  brought  back  to  the 
island.  Here  the  men  were  allowed  a  certain  liberty  for 
such  time  as  they  required  to  reach  a  proper  condition  for 
cooking,  and  then  they  were  disposed  of  as  the  Spaniards 
had  seen.  The  women  added  that  the  Caribs  carried  mat- 


78          THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

ters  so  far  that  they  did  not  scruple  to  eat  their  own  sons 
whose  mothers  were  not  Caribs.  When  boys  were  made 
prisoners,  they  were  kept  as  slaves  until  they  reached  man's 
estate  and  then  eaten  in  their  turn.  Man's  flesh  was  con 
sidered  by  these  interesting  ruffians  to  be  "  so  good  that 
there  is  nothing  like  it  in  the  world,"  —  an  opinion  which 
we  have  ourselves  heard  asserted,  but  with  much  shame- 
facedness,  in  later  days,  by  those  who  knew.. 

Thus  far  we  have  followed  Dr.  Chanca's  extremely  busi 
ness-like  and  unemotional  report  of  his  personal  observa 
tions  of  the  cannibal  practices  of  the  Caribs.  Peter 
Martyr,  who  might  justly  pass  as  a  man  of  science  in  his 
generation,  was  in  Medina  del  Campo  in  Old  Castile  when, 
in  the  following  April,  twelve  of  the  Admiral's  ships  re 
turned  to  Cadiz.  He  sought  out  their  commander,  Torres, 
and  from  him  and  other  faithful  and  credible  men  who  came 
with  him  from  the  Admiral  procured  a  detailed  account  of 
this  voyage  for  the  information  of  his  friend  and  patron, 
Cardinal  Sforza.  He  writes  that  they  told  him  that  "  they 
found  also  in  their  [the  Caribs']  kitchens  men's  flesh, 
ducks'  flesh,  and  goose  flesh,  all  in  one  pot;  and  other  on 
the  spits  ready  to  be  laid  to  the  fire.  Entering  into  their 
inner  lodgings,  they  found  faggots  of  the  bones  of  men's 
arms  and  legs,  which  they  reserve  to  make  heads  for  their 
arrows,  because  they  lack  iron.  The  other  bones  they  cast 
away  when  they  have  eaten  the  flesh.  They  found  likewise 
the  head  of  a  young  man  fastened  to  a  pole  and  yet  bleed 
ing."  The  Admiral  himself,  according  to  Las  Casas,  went 
on  shore  one  day  and  entered  some  cabins,  where  he  saw, 
together  with  some  looms  and  other  signs  of  industry, 
"many  heads  hanging  up  and  remains  of  human  bones." 
Dr.  Chanca  mentions,  quite  as  a  matter  of  course,  that  he 
found  an  "infinite  number  of  men's  bones."  We  know 
that  among  scores  of  tribes,  both  in  America  and  else 
where,  both  in  1493  and  at  the  present  day,  human  flesh 
was  and  is  sought  for  and  fought  for,  and  eaten  for  the 
mere  love  of  it  as  frequently  as  for  reasons  of  superstition 
or  revenge.  Doubtless  some  reader  of  these  lines  has  him 
self  met  with  men  who  preferred  the  meat  of  their  fellow- 


THE  ISLANDS   OF  THE    CANNIBALS.  79 

creatures  to  veal  or  chicken.  The  writer  certainly  has. 
And  yet  we  are  asked  by  those  whose  self-imposed  office  is 
assumed  to  be  "the  destruction  of  a  world's  exemplar"  in 
the  interests  of  Historical  Criticism,  to  believe  that  these 
reports  were  concocted  by  Columbus  and  his  followers  "  to 
enhance  the  wonder  with  which  Europe  was  to  be  im 
pressed,"  and  that  to  them  "the  cruelty  of  the  custom  was 
not  altogether  unwelcome  to  warrant  a  retaliatory  merci- 
lessness."  "Historians  have  not  wholly  decided,"  we  are 
gravely  informed,  "  that  this  is  enough  to  account  for  the 
most  positive  statements  about  man-eating  tribes.  Fears 
and  prejudices  might  do  much  to  raise  such  a  belief,  or  at 
least  to  magnify  the  habits."  We  have  no  more  sympathy 
with  those  who  would  make  a  spectacular  demi-god  of 
Columbus  than  we  have  with  those  who  labor  to  prove  him 
a  vulgar  adventurer  and  discredited  romancer;  but  we 
humbly  submit  that  this  is  a  question  of  fact  beyond  the 
province  of  armchair  scepticism.  Why  Columbus  and  his 
companions  should  be  accused  of  cheap  (and  wholly  un 
necessary)  lying,  and  yet  every  missionary  and  traveller 
from  Oceanica  and  Darkest  Africa  be  listened  to  with  bated 
breath  and  grateful  spinal  shivers  while  they  relate  similar 
experiences,  is  a  mystery  beyond  our  layman's  compre 
hension.1 

In  the  course  of  their  enforced  stay  in  Guadalupe,  the 
Spaniards  had  opportunity  for  securing  many  of  the  Carib 
women  and  a  few  of  their  men.  These  proved  to  be  of  for 
bidding  countenance,  with  long  hair,  beardless  faces  stained 
black  around  the  eyes  to  render  their  appearance  more 
ferocious,  and  with  bands  of  cotton  drawn  tightly  about  the 
knees  and  ankles  to  make  the  calves  of  their  legs  bulge  out 
in  a  grotesque  manner.  Their  cabins  were  built  in  a  sightly 
manner  of  branches  wattled  with  cane,  and  were  thatched 
with  palm-leaves,  much  as  we  find  them  to-day  among  the 

1  Herrera,  writing  one  hundred  years  afterwards,  affirmed  that  "  to 
this  day  the  natives  of  Dominica  go  to  the  island  of  San  Juan  to  hunt 
men  for  eating."  He  adds  that  many  of  them  had  desisted  from  the 
practice  by  reason  of  the  violent  colic  from  which  they  suffered  after 
eating  a  Spanish  friar  ! 


80          THE  LAST    VOYAGES    OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

same  mountains.  They  seemed  to  have  a  greater  abun 
dance  of  food  than  the  natives  of  the  other  islands,  and 
possessed  no  small  skill  in  the  arts  of  the  potter  and  the 
weaver,  their  hammocks  and  cloths  of  cotton  being  notice 
ably  well  made.  Notwithstanding  this  comparative  ad 
vancement,  they  were  brutal  in  all  their  habits,  and  so 
great  was  the  terror  they  inspired  that  their  former  captives 
trembled  at  the  very  sight  of  one,  even  when  they  were 
themselves  protected  by  the  Spaniards  and  the  Carib  was  a 
prisoner.  In  a  word,  every  day  confirmed  further  the 
accounts  which  the  quaking  inhabitants  of  the  Bahamas 
and  Northern  Hayti  had  given  to  the  Admiral  the  year 
before,  when  they  pointed  to  the  southeast  and  affirmed  that 
there  dwelt  the  "Canibals,"  whom  he  supposed  to  be  the 
Asiatic  anthropophagi  of  Marco  Polo, —  the  subjects  of  the 
Great  Khan. 

On  the  fourth  day  after  setting  out  on  their  search, 
Hojeda  and  his  command  returned  to  the  fleet.  He 
brought  no  tidings  of  Marquez  or  his  men,  but  told  a  mov 
ing  tale  of  hardship  and  fatigue  endured  in  his  long 
march  through  the  pathless  jungle.  Of  the  riches  of 
Nature,  Hojeda  had  enough  to  report.  Gum  mastic,  gin 
ger,  incense,  wax,  sandal-wood,  and  other  aromatic  treas 
ures,  he  affirmed,  were  to  be  found  in  quantities.  Game 
birds  and  songsters  of  every  variety  abounded.  The  land 
was  fertile  and  the  forests  full  of  gigantic  trees  of  precious 
woods.  So  well  watered  was  it  that  he  had  crossed  no  less 
than  twenty-six  rivers,  the  waters  in  many  of  which  came 
above  the  belt.  He  had  encountered  few  natives,  and  none 
of  these  were  men.  So  far  as  his  observations  went,  it  was 
evident  that,  in  comparison  with  Cuba  and  Hayti,  Guada- 
lupe  was  virtually  uninhabited. 

Shortly  after  Hojeda's  arrival,  Marquez  himself  appeared 
with  his  pilots  and  soldiers  and  a  train  of  ten  women 
and  boy  prisoners.  "We  had  already  given  them  up  for 
lost  and  eaten  by  these  people  who  call  themselves  Caribs," 
writes  Chanca;  "for  there  was  no  reason  to  believe  them 
lost  in  any  other  way,  since  there  went  with  them  some 
pilots,  seamen  who  knew  how  to  go  to  and  come  from 


THE  ISLANDS   OF  THE    CANNIBALS.  8 1 

Spain  by  the  stars,  and  we  did  not  think  it  possible  for 
them  to  lose  themselves  in  so  narrow  a  circuit."  Both 
inspector  and  men  were  in  so  dilapidated  a  condition  that 
their  shipmates  were  rilled  with  pity,  which  increased  when 
they  heard  the  story  of  their  sufferings  among  the  path 
less  woods  and  rugged  mountains.  They  accounted  for 
their  long  absence  by  saying  that  the  woods  were  so 
dense  that  they  could  guide  themselves  neither  by  sun 
nor  stars.  Utterly  without  direction  or  hope,  they  had 
wandered  among  precipices,  marsh  and  jungle,  tattered 
and  starved,  apprehending  an  ambush  behind  every  huge 
buttressed  tree  or  liana-woven  thicket.  The  sailors  made 
shift  to  climb  some  of  the  tallest  trees  at  night,  in  the  hope 
of  getting  a  glimpse  of  the  polar  star,  but  without  avail. 
In  truth,  no  more  emphatic  testimony  could  be  borne  as  to 
their  abject  desperation  than  the  attempt  to  climb  by  night, 
in  the  depth  of  a  tropical  forest,  up  or  down  the  bare  shaft 
of  any  tree  of  height  apparently  sufficient  to  view  the  stars. 
At  length,  when  their  exhaustion  was  complete,  a  pilot 
caught  the  gleam  of  the  sea,  and  they  made  their  way  to  the 
coast.  Taking,  whether  by  chance  or  intention,  the  right 
direction,  they  arrived  in  safety  at  the  ships.  "  We  were  as 
delighted  to  see  them  as  though  they  had  just  been  found," 
Dr.  Chanca  tells  us;  but  the  Admiral  judged  that  the  perilous 
insubordination  of  Marquez  required  reproof.  He  there 
fore  placed  the  inspector  under  arrest,  and  punished  his 
followers  according  to  their  degree;  by  which  necessary 
measure  he  made  at  least  nine  enemies,  one  of  whom  had 
friends  at  Court,  and  afforded  his  critics,  four  centuries 
later,  occasion  to  comment  upon  the  facility  with  which  he 
estranged  the  affections  of  his  followers. 

On  Sunday  morning,  the  loth  of  November,  the  fleet 
weighed  anchor  and  stood  to  the  north  along  the  leeward 
coast  of  Guadalupe,  making  slow  progress  on  account  of 
light  winds.  The  next  day  they  were  clear  of  the  land, 
and  steered  for  another  island,  distant  some  forty  miles  to 
the  northwest.  This  also  proved  to  be  mountainous  in  its 
character,  covered  with  dense  forests,  and  having  bold 
shores  r  sing  abruptly  from  the  sea.  Oving  to  the  resem- 

6 


82          THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  AD  AURAL. 

blance  of  its  wild  and  rugged  contour  to  that  of  the 
famous  penas  of  that  name  in  Spain,  the  Admiral  called 
this  island  Monserrate.  The  Indian  women  on  board  the 
flagship  declared  that  it  was  desolate,  all  its  inhabitants 
having  been  carried  off  by  the  Caribs;  so  no  attempt  was 
made  to  land.  From  this  position  a  number  of  other 
islands  were  visible  east,  north,  and  west,  and  the  fleet 
was  headed  a  little  more  to  the  latter  quarter.  At  a 
distance  of  a  few  miles  to  the  leeward,  a  single  barren 
dome  of  rock  rose  to  the  height  of  many  hundred  feet  from 
waters  whose  deep  blue  denoted  that  they  were  wellnigh 
fathomless.  Streaked  with  white  and  dim-colored  patches, 
the  side  towards  the  fleet  presented  an  inaccessible  wall  of 
forbidding  smoothness,  with  no  other  growth  than  scanty 
lichens  and  no  other  life  than  screaming  sea-fowl.  The 
trained  eye  of  the  Admiral  remarked  its  impregnable  char 
acter,  and  he  noted  "  that  without  scaling-ladders  and  ropes 
let  down  from  above  it  appears  impossible  to  reach  the 
top."  To  this  lonely  crag  he  gave  the  name  of  Santa 
Maria  la  Redonda.  Near  by  were  some  shoals,  where  he 
found  anchorage  for  the  night,  not  caring  to  risk  farther 
navigation  in  the  darkness.  The  next  morning,  soon  after 
getting  under  way,  a  long  outline  was  descried  in  the 
northeast,  which,  in  comparison  with  the  lofty  volcanic 
summits  of  its  neighbors,  was  low  and  regular.  Without 
approaching  it  closer,  the  Admiral  christened  it  Santa 
Maria  la  Antigua.  Continuing  on  his  course  and  bearing 
more  to  the  westward,  he  soon  came  up  to  a  lofty  symmet 
rical  cone  rising  from  the  centre  of  a  small  island,  which 
reminded  him  of  a  snow-clad  peak  near  Barcelona,  the  scene 
of  his  recent  triumphs  at  the  Spanish  Court.  He  gave  the 
same  name,  Nieves,  or  Snows,  to  the  dead  volcano  of  these 
distant  seas,  and  as  Nevis  we  still  know  it»  Near  to  this 
was  still  another  group  of  forest-crowned  summits,  towering 
far  into  cloud-land  out  of  the  sapphire  depths,  and  this  he 
named  St.  Christopher,  after  his  patron  saint.  From  here 
he  steered  for  the  largest  of  the  islands  to  the  north,  passing 
by  several  smaller  ones  to  the  westward.  Whatever  dis 
position  he  had  to  tarry  on  his  way  and  inspect  some  of 


THE  ISLANDS   OF   THE    CANNIBALS.  83 

these  inviting  lands  was  put  aside.  All  that  he  had  seen 
and  heard  of  the  Caribs  had  inspired  him  with  anxious 
concern  for  the  safety  of  his  forty  pioneers  at  Navidad,  and 
he  was  even  more  impatient  to  reach  them  than  curious  to 
learn  the  nature  and  products  of  the  magnificent  archi 
pelago  through  which  he  was  sailing.  Past  the  majestic 
cliffs  of  St.  Eustacio  and  Saba,  the  fleet  held  on  its  way 
towards  an  island  of  larger  size,  where  the  low  savannahs 
of  the  coast  swept  up  to  a  long  range  of  elevated  table 
lands.  To  an  island  of  much  less  size  near  by,  the  Admi 
ral  gave  the  name  of  St.  Bartholomew,  apparently  in  affec 
tionate  remembrance  of  the  brother  who  had  parted  from 
him  six  years  before  to  plead  his  great  project  of  discovery 
before  the  English  King  Henry.  As  the  ships  drew  closer, 
the  larger  island,  which  he  called  St.  Martin,  showed  in  the 
cultivated  clearings  seen  along  shore  evidences  of  a  consid 
erable  population.  They  came  to  anchor  in  a  convenient 
harbor,  as  the  Admiral  determined  to  ascertain  whether 
these  natives  also  were  Caribs,  and  verify,  if  possible,  the 
distance  and  exact  direction  of  Hispaniola, —  not  because 
he  was  wandering  at  random,  as  Dr.  Chanca  is  careful  to 
explain,  "but  because  in  doubtful  matters  one  should 
always  seek  the  greatest  possible  certainty."  The  Span 
iards  could  find  no  one  in  the  village  where  they  landed  to 
hold  converse  with,  as  all  the  natives  had  fled  at  their 
approach;  so  the  fleet  speedily  continued  its  course,  steer 
ing  now  almost  due  west,  as  they  had  reached  the  latitudes 
wherein  Hispaniola  should  be  found.1 

On  the  second  day  after  leaving  St.  Martin,  November 
1 4th,  the  fleet  reached  an  inhabited  island  to  which  he  gave 
the  name  of  Santa  Cruz  (the  Holy  Cross),  from  some  fanci 
ful  idea  of  its  shape.  Here  he  anchored  and  sent  boats 

1  Here  occurred  one  of  those  trifling  incidents  which  give  us  an 
insight  into  one  of  the  chief  causes  of  his  success  as  an  explorer.  As 
the  anchors  were  hoisted  home,  Columbus  noticed  that  their  flukes 
brought  up  the  debris  of  coral  instead  of  the  muddy  spoil  of  Guada- 
lupe's  harbor.  The  observation  was  not  without  its  significance  when 
we  bear  in  mind  the  fact  that  the  group  of  which  this  is  the  centre  is 
not  of  the  same  distinctively  volcanic  formation  as  are  the  other  islands 
among  which  he  sailed. 


84          THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE   ADMIRAL. 

ashore  to  have  speech  with  the  people.  As  usual,  the  natives 
betook  themselves  to  the  woods,  but  the  Spaniards  secured 
four  women  and  a  couple  of  boys.  They  also  proved  to  be 
captives  in  the  hands  of  the  Caribs,  and  said  that  this  was 
the  island  called  Ayay  by  the  cannibals  and  was  one  of  their 
chief  strongholds.  A  party  of  thirty  men  was  accordingly 
landed,  to  protect  the  boats'  crews  who  went  ashore  for 
water  and  to  make  a  reconnoissance  of  the  neighborhood. 
They  found  much  the  same  kind  of  village  as  in  Guadalupe, 
but  could  discover  no  traces  of  the  people.  While  they 
were  absent,  a  large  canoe  came  around  a  point  of  the  coast 
manned  by  four  men,  two  women,  and  a  boy.  At  the  sight 
of  the  Spanish  vessels  they  dropped  their  paddles  and  sat 
gazing  in  blank  amazement  at  the  bewildering  spectacle. 
While  thus  engaged,  the  landing-party  put  off  from  shore  in 
their  barge  and  started  for  the  ships,  only  to  be  surprised 
in  turn  by  suddenly  encountering  the  Carib  canoe.  The 
Indians  were  still  so  absorbed  in  contemplating  the  extraor 
dinary  spectacle  of  the  great  winged  craft  that  the  barge 
was  almost  upon  them  before  they  perceived  the  danger. 
In  a  twinkling  they  had  seized  their  paddles,  and  began  to 
make  for  the  shore.  A  skilful  movement  of  the  Spanish 
boat  cut  off  their  retreat,  and  the  white  men,  who  sought  to 
capture  them  unharmed,  were  on  the  point  of  seizing  the 
canoe,  when  the  Indians  dropped  their  paddles,  grasped  their 
bows  and,  both  men  and  women,  sent  a  flight  of  arrows  into 
the  crowded  barge.  Two  of  the  Spaniards  were  badly 
wounded,  one  with  a  couple  of  arrows  through  the  chest, 
the  other  with  one  between  the  ribs.  The  interested  spec 
tators  on  the  decks  of  the  ships  remarked  that  an  arrow  dis 
charged  by  one  of  the  women  pierced  through  a  shield 
carried  by  one  of  the  soldiers.  Before  the  Caribs  could 
repeat  their  murderous  volley,  the  barge  was  steered  straight 
for  the  canoe,  and,  striking  it  squarely,  threw  its  occupants 
into  the  water.  Little  difference  did  that  make,  however, 
for,  finding  a  foothold  on  a  sunken  rock  as  they  swam 
towards  land,  the  Indians  faced  their  assailants  and  sent 
another  flight  of  arrows  into  them,  which  would  have  been 
as  disastrous  as  the  first  had  the  soldiers  not  protected  them- 


THE  ISLANDS   OF   THE    CANNIBALS.  85 

selves  with  shields  and  targets.  Even  when  the  barge 
returned  against  them,  they  fought  so  desperately  that  it  was 
necessary  to  run  a  spear  through  one  of  the  men  before  he 
could  be  dragged  inboard.  With  this  exception  they  were 
finally  secured  unhurt  and  taken  aboard  the  flagship,  where, 
as  Peter  Martyr  says,  "  they  did  no  more  put  off  their  fierce 
ness  and  cruel  countenance  than  do  the  lions  of  Libya  when 
they  perceive  themselves  to  be  bound  in  chains."  In  due 
time  these  plucky  cannibals  were  sent  to  Spain  for  the 
greater  instruction  of  the  King  and  Queen,  and  there  Peter 
Martyr  saw  them.  "  There  is  no  man  able  to  behold  them, " 
he  affirms,  "but  he  shall  feel  his  bowels  grate  with  a  certain 
horror,  nature  hath  endowed  them  with  so  terrible,  menac 
ing,  and  cruel  an  aspect."  The  Spaniards  themselves  were 
inclined  to  give  them  full  credit  for  their  dauntlessness. 
"I  say  advisedly  that  they  possessed  great  daring,"  Chanca 
says  in  describing  the  skirmish;  "for  they  were  no  more 
than  four  men  and  two  women,  and  our  men  numbered 
above  five  and  twenty."  By  degrees  they  quieted  down  and 
even  became  communicative,  telling  their  captors,  among 
other  things,  that  in  Ceyre  (Dominica)  gold  was  so  plentiful 
that  when  they  went  there,  as  was  their  custom,  to  fell  trees 
for  their  canoes,  each  man  gathered  as  much  of  the  metal 
as  he  pleased. 

After  making  a  stay  of  six  or  seven  hours  at  Santa  Cruz, 
the  fleet  steered  for  what  appeared  to  be  a  large  and  lofty 
island  somewhat  to  the  north.  On  approaching  nearer,  it 
proved  to  be  a  group  of  forty  or  fifty  islands,  of  which  only 
one  was  of  considerable  size.  To  this  the  Admiral  gave  the 
name  of  St.  Ursula,  and  to  the  surrounding  archipelago  that 
of  the  Eleven  Thousand  Virgins.  The  channels  between 
these  islands  were  so  narrow  and  tortuous,  and  the  white 
spray  flying  on  all  sides  betokened  so  many  hidden  rocks, 
that  he  attempted  no  general  landing,  but  sent  a  caravel  of 
light  draught  to  inspect  a  few  huts,  which,  by  their  contents, 
proved  to  belong  to  fishermen.  This  group,  unlike  the 
other  islands,  was  destitute  of  trees,  and  the  Spaniards  fan 
cied  they  saw  indications  of  valuable  metal  deposits  in  the 
brown,  white,  and  grayish  rocks  of  which  it  was  chiefly  com- 


86          THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

posed.  The  day  was  passed  in  getting  clear  of  the  skirts 
of  these  holy  damsels,  and  at  night  the  westerly  course  was 
resumed.  Afternoon  of  the  following  day  found  the  fleet 
off  the  southeastern  coast  of  the  great  island  known  to  the 
Indians  as  Buriquen,  from  which  most  of  the  captives  who 
had  fled  to  the  Spaniards  at  Santa  Cruz  and  Guadalupe  had 
been  brought  by  the  Caribs.  As  they  coasted  along,  close 
inshore,  they  saw  evidences  of  considerable  population  and 
systematic  cultivation.  The  country  along  the  coast  was  a 
beautiful  succession  of  savannahs  and  rolling  hills,  while 
inland  the  mountains  towered  skyward,  as  in  the  great  islands 
first  encountered.  The  natives  on  board  the  Spanish  vessels 
vaunted  the  beauties  and  fertility  of  their  home,  whose  only 
curse  was  the  periodical  incursions  of  the  Caribs.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  Caribs  on  the  flagship  claimed  that  the 
Indians  of  Buriquen  were  as  bad  as  they;  that  they  used 
the  same  weapons,  and  when  any  unlucky  man-eater  fell  into 
their  hands  the  lex  talionis  was  fulfilled  to  the  letter,  the 
genial  inhabitants  of  Buriquen  promptly  putting  their  cap 
tive  beyond  all  chance  of  further  roving  by  the  simple  pro 
cess  of  cooking  and  eating  him.  In  one  respect  the  Caribs 
had  shown  themselves  to  be  masters  of  strategy :  they  had 
for  so  long  systematically  destroyed  or  carried  off  all  the 
canoes  of  the  people  of  the  island  that  by  degrees  these  had 
lost  all  skill  in  the  use  of  boats  and  were  now  virtually 
impounded  within  their  own  borders. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  igth  the  fleet  reached  the  western 
extremity  of  the  island  and  came  to  anchor  in  a  spacious 
harbor.  The  Admiral  christened  this  latest  discovery  St. 
John  the  Baptist,  and  the  name  still  lingers  in  the  Spanish 
records;  but  for  us  it  has  been  displaced  by  the  more 
familiar  one  of  Porto  Rico.  In  this  haven,  which  is  iden 
tified  with  the  modern  one  of  Mayagiies,  the  Admiral 
remained  two  days,  and  a  large  part  of  his  force  was  allowed 
liberty  on  shore.  The  Spaniards  were  particularly  impressed 
with  the  regularity  and  neatness  shown  in  the  arrangement 
of  a  native  village  near  their  anchorage.  A  broad  plaza  or 
market-place  was  surrounded  by  cabins  of  unusual  size,  and 
from  it  a  cleanly  swept  street  led  directly  to  the  water's 


THE  ISLANDS   OF   THE    CANNIBALS.  S/ 

edge,  bounded  on  either  side  by  walls  made  of  living  bam 
boo  wattled  with  cane.  By  the  seaside  was  a  tall  edifice 
open  at  the  sides,  as  if  intended  for  a  lookout  or  pleasure- 
house.  Everything  in  the  vicinity  denoted  recent  occupa 
tion,  but  not  a  native  was  seen  during  the  time  of  the 
Spaniards'  visit. 

At  dawn  on  the  morning  of  Thursday,  November  2ist, 
the  fleet  left  Porto  Rico  and  steered  due  west.  Before  night 
fell  it  was  in  sight  of  a  huge  range  of  mountains  in  that  quar 
ter,  and  the  Admiral  shortened  sail  accordingly.  Early  on 
the  following  day,  the  22nd,  he  approached  the  coast,  which 
at  that  point  was  so  level  and  unlike  the  northern  shores  of 
Hispaniola  that  he  had  some  doubt  as  to  whether  he  had 
indeed  reached  his  goal,  and  the  doubt  was  shared  by  all 
who  had  been  with  him  on  the  former  voyage.  The  Indian 
women  who  were  on  the  flagship  insisted  that  this  was  in 
truth  Hayti  and  not  some  other  great  island,  like  Dominica 
or  Guadalupe;  so  the  Admiral  sent  on  shore  one  of  the 
Indians  whom  he  had  taken  to  Spain  from  Samana  Bay  when 
leaving  Hayti  the  preceding  January.  This  man  was  told 
to  ascertain  the  position  of  the  fleet  with  reference  to  Navi- 
dad,  and  to  explain  to  his  countrymen  the  good  intentions 
of  the  white  men,  their  power  and  great  resources,  and  the 
grandeur  of  their  King  and  nation,  as  he  had  so  recently 
seen  it  in  Castile.  He  gladly  accepted  the  service,  was 
landed  on  the  beach, —  and  disappeared  from  history.  Las 
Casas  thinks  this  Haytian  was  killed  by  his  countrymen  as 
a  renegade.  We  prefer  to  believe  that  the  sound  of  his  own 
tongue  and  the  sight  of  the  familiar  parrot-feathers  and 
black  paint,  which  formed  the  simple  yet  distinctive  dress 
of  his  fellow  tribesmen,  pierced  through  his  thin  veneering 
of  acquired  civilization,  and  that  he  cast  in  his  lot  again 
with  them,  leaving  the  great  Spanish  cacique  and  his  big 
winged  canoes  to  shift  for  themselves.  The  Admiral  waited 
in  vain  for  his  return,  and  at  length  got  under  weigh  and 
resumed  his  course  along  the  coast  to  the  north.  Toward 
evening  he  reached  the  entrance  to  a  great  bay,  and  had  no 
difficulty  in  recognizing  it  as  that  of  Samana,  whence  he 
had  taken  his  departure  for  Spain  on  the  previous  voyage. 


88          THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

He  made  for  the  point  on  its  northern  side,  which  he  had 
called  Cape  Angel,  and  there  came  to  anchor,  partly  to  have 
speech  with  the  natives,  and  partly  to  bury  one  of  his  sail 
ors,  a  Basque,  who  had  died  of  wounds  received  in  the 
skirmish  with  the  six  Caribs  at  Santa  Cruz.  While  a  boat 
carried  the  body  on  land,  two  caravels  drew  near  the  shore 
to  guard  it.  Immediately  a  crowd  of  Indians  swarmed 
around  the  boat,  begging  to  be  taken  off  to  the  fleet  and 
offering  all  they  possessed  in  exchange  for  the  trinkets  of 
the  Spaniards.  The  latter  refused  to  take  them,  not  having 
permission  from  the  Admiral;  whereupon  two  of  the  eager 
natives  leaped  into  a  canoe  and  paddled  to  a  caravel,  where 
they  renewed  their  importunities.  As  many  of  them  wore 
golden  ornaments  around  their  necks  and  in  their  ears,  the 
captain  thought  it  best  to  take  them  to  the  flagship,  where 
they  were  kindly  received.  They  told  the  Admiral  that 
their  king  had  sent  them  and  their  companions  to  learn 
what  manner  of  men  these  strangers  were  who  were  seen 
approaching  over  the  sea.  If  they  were  of  the  same  sort  as 
the  astonishing  beings  who  had  visited  his  territory  earlier 
in  the  year,  he  desired  them  to  come  ashore,  that  he  might 
give  them  all  the  gold  and  provisions  they  wanted.  Evi 
dently  the  cacique  of  Samana  bore  the  white  men  no  grudge 
for  the  punishment  they  had  inflicted  on  his  warriors  a  few 
months  before,  but  remembered  only  the  priceless  gifts  of 
cloth  and  beads  he  had  received  from  them.  To  his  invi 
tation  the  Admiral  responded  that  he  would  surely  pay  him 
a  visit  at  another  season,  but  that  he  was  now  in  haste  to 
reach  the  country  of  Guacanagari.  With  this  reply  he  sent 
a  present  of  shirts,  sailors'  bonnets,  and  other  trifles,  and 
the  messengers  departed  in  glee.  Their  favorable  report 
inspired  their  companions  with  confidence,  and  a  thriving 
traffic  in  golden  ornaments,  cassava  bread,  fruits,  and  yams 
was  soon  established  with  the  Spaniards;  for  it  was  clear 
that  the  people  as  well  as  their  king  remembered  what  their 
visitors  of  the  previous  voyage  most  wanted.  But  the 
Admiral  this  time  would  not  delay  a  moment  longer  than 
was  necessary.  Even  the  sight  of  the  yellow  metal,  for  so 
little  of  which  he  had  been  so  willing  before  to  wait  so  long, 


THE  ISLANDS   OF   THE    CANNIBALS.  89 

was  now  of  secondary  importance;  and,  weighing  anchor, 
he  stood  past  Cape  Angel  and  turned  the  "  Maria  Galante's  " 
bow  to  the  west,  in  the  direction  of  Navidad. 

The  perils  and  excitements  of  his  second  passage  through 
the  terrible  Ocean  Sea  were  over,  and  again  it  had  proved 
but  a  speedy  cruise  over  summer  seas,  with  no  more  of  hard 
ship  or  danger  than  the  sailors  of  his  and  of  all  times  hail 
as  the  salt  of  their  existence.  A  second  time  he  had 
wrested  from  these  unknown  western  waters  a  generous 
portion  of  the  secrets  they  had  so  successfully  guarded  since 
the  foundations  of  their  deepest  caverns  were  laid,  and 
again  he  had  given  to  his  sovereigns  an  accession  of  domin 
ion  in  comparison  with  which  all  the  islands  in  the  Midland 
Sea,  from  the  Bosphorus  to  the  Pillars  of  Hercules,  were 
as  nothing.  He  had  traced  .far  down  toward  the  burning 
zone,  where  Earth's  choicest  products  were  supposed  to  be 
hidden,  this  line  of  giant  islands  which  began  with  Cuba, 
and  found  them  surpassingly  fertile  and  beautiful,  abound 
ing  with  promise  of  untold  riches.  He  had  solved  the 
mystery  of  the  man-eaters  who  devastated  the  northern 
islands,  and  formed  the  opinion  that  they  could  easily  be 
subdued  and  their  islands  converted  into  ports  of  call  for 
the  fleets  which  were  to  ply  between  Hispaniola  and  Cadiz. 
Finally,  he  had  become  imbued  with  the  profound  convic 
tion  that  by  steering  yet  farther  south  he  should  find  other 
Guadalupes  and  Dominicas,  if  not  the  mainland  of  Asia 
itself.  He  had  learned  that  the  Indians  of  the  Lucayos, 
Cuba,  and  Hayti  had  told  the  truth  when  they  said,  the  year 
before,  that  there  were  other  great  islands  to  the  southeast; 
why  might  they  not  be  equally  believed  when  they  spoke  of 
the  vast  country  of  Caribana,  with  its  mighty  kings  and 
hordes  of  people  ?  From  Dominica  he  had  seen  the  blue 
mountains  of  other  islands  in  that  quarter,  and  only  sailed 
away  because  his  men  at  Navidad  were  counting  the  days 
till  his  return;  what  lands  and  races  might  not  be  waiting 
discovery  and  annexation  in  the  fiery  South?  Whatever 
they  were,  they  must  bide  his  time.  His  work  of  explora 
tion  must  be  suspended  for  a  season  and  his  attention 
devoted  to  questions  of  administration  and  government. 


go          THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF  THE  ADMIRAL. 

Later  on,  if  God  were  willing,  he  should  strive  to  wrest  from 
the  ocean  the  secrets  of  the  South  as  he  had  those  of  the 
West. 

As  the  fleet  sailed  along  the  Haytian  coast  in  quest  of 
Navidad,  the  Admiral  marked  the  familiar  headlands  of  the 
rugged  shore  as  they  hove  in  sight,  and  recalled  the  name 
he  had  given  each  as  he  had  passed  them  homeward-bound 
on  the  former  voyage.  There  was  the  Lover's  Cape,  and 
that  of  Father  and  Son;  Spotted  Cape,  Cape  of  Good 
Weather,  the  Frenchman's,  Round  Cape,  Dry  Point,  Iron 
Point,  Angel  Cape,  Silver  Mountain,  Cape  Fairlawn,  and 
then  that  River  of  Thanks  where  Martin  Alonzo  had  landed 
and  secured  so  much  gold  before  rejoining  his  deserted 
commander.  Each  name  suggested  some  incident  of  the 
eventful  cruise  in  January,  and  there  were  not  wanting 
tongues  to  vaunt  the  exploits  of  the  days  of  the  Discovery  at 
the  expense  of  those  of  the  present  voyage.  But  the  mind 
of  the  leader  was  on  other  things,  and  it  was  the  Viceroy 
rather  than  the  Admiral  who  watched  the  majestic  pano 
rama  of  forbidding  sierra,  smiling  prairie,  rugged  promon 
tory,  and  inviting  harbor  which  was  slipping  steadily  by 
as  the  vessels  held  on  their  westerly  course.  Beyond  yonder 
mountains  was  the  province  of  Cibao,  which  he  believed  to 
be  the  Cipango  of  Marco  Polo,  abounding  in  gold  and  pre 
cious  commodities.  One  of  his  first  cares  would  be  to  inves 
tigate  its  resources  and  the  character  of  its  people.  In  there, 
at  the  foot  of  Silver  Mountain,  was  the  Puerto  de  Plata 
(Silver  Port).  On  the  previous  voyage  he  had  examined  it 
carefully  and  found  it  to  be  a  noble  site  for  a  settlement,  to 
serve  as  a  base  of  operation  and  supplies  for  the  golden 
districts  behind  it.  The  River  of  Thanks  would  be  another 
good  situation,  but  there  was  too  little  water  on  the  bar. 
At  Monte  Christi,  just  beyond,  was  an  admirable  harbor, 
but  the  surrounding  shores  were  low  and  might  not  prove 
well  fitted  for  residence.  He  had  left  instructions  with 
Diego  de  Arana,  at  Navidad,  to  have  these  ports  examined 
with  the  barge  which  he  had  left  with  the  garrison  for  the 
purpose,  for  he  was  not  satisfied  with  Navidad  as  a  perma 
nent  situation  for  the  town  he  proposed  building,  and,  more- 


THE  ISLANDS   OF  THE   CANNIBALS.  91 

over,  he  wished  to  be  nearer  the  mines  of  Cibao.  All  this 
had  no  doubt  been  attended  to,  and  the  reconnoissance 
made  of  this  province  and  those  adjoining,  as  he  had 
directed.  He  would  hear  his  lieutenant's  report,  inspect 
the  gold,  drugs,  and  other  products  which  had  been  gathered 
in  his  absence,  and  send  them  at  once  to  Spain  with  such 
of  the  ships  as  he  did  not  require.  That  done,  the  work  of 
founding  his  colony,  organizing  his  government,  and  pro 
viding  for  the  control  of  the  natives  and  the  speedy  extrac 
tion  of  the  largest  revenue  possible  would  be  diligently 
pushed.  Subsequently  the  Viceroy  would  be  again  merged 
in  the  Admiral,  and  he  would  carry  out  his  cherished  plan 
of  determining  whether  Cuba  was  really  the  eastern  extrem 
ity  of  Asia  and  whether  that  continent  was  prolonged  to 
the  south. 

This  is  no  mere  play  of  fancy.  The  writings  of  Colum 
bus  and  his  subsequent  actions  indicate  beyond  all  question 
that  he  approached  Navidad  with  a  clear  and  definite  pro 
gramme  conceived  on  these  lines:  indeed,  the  journal  of 
his  first  voyage,  in  the  portion  written  just  after  he  left  that 
garrison,  allows  us  to  see  the  tendency  of  his  reflections; 
and  all  that  followed,  both  in  the  preparations  for  the  second 
voyage  and  in  its  conduct,  only  confirms  the  existence  of 
a  settled  and  systematic  design  of  this  nature.  There  was 
nothing  blind  or  happy-go-lucky  in  his  proceedings.  What 
ever  other  faults  he  had,  this  man  acted  on  a  consistent, 
well-digested,  and  comprehensive  plan  of  campaign  from 
the  time  he  landed  on  San  Salvador  to  the  day  of  his  return 
from  his  last  voyage.  Those  who  have  the  patience  to  fol 
low  his  career  will,  we  believe,  admit  as  much.1 

1  In  this  chapter  we  have  chiefly  followed  the  report  of  Dr.  Chanca, 
as  he  was  attached  to  the  Admiral's  flagship  and  in  a  position  to  know 
all  that  occurred.  We  have  no  remains  of  the  journal  of  Columbus 
himself  before  the  arrival  of  the  fleet  at  Samana  Bay.  Here  Las 
Casas  begins  his  condensation  of  the  Admiral's  own  record.  The  letter 
attributed  to  Guglielmo  Coma  and  printed  by  Scillacio  gives  the  news 
at  second  hand,  and  ranks  with  the  letters  of  Peter  Martyr,  as  being 
founded  on  what  some  participants  in  the  voyage  related  to  the  writers. 


V. 

A   BITTER   DISILLUSION. 

WHEN  the  fleet  arrived  at  the  port  of  Monte  Christi, 
the  Admiral  came  to  anchor  and  sent  a  boat  on  shore. 
He  considered  this  so  desirable  a  harbor  that,  when  home 
ward  bound  in  January,  he  had  examined  it  with  particular 
attention;  and,  as  it  was  only  some  eight  leagues  from 
Navidad,  he  expected  to  find  some  trace  of  Spanish  occupa 
tion.  He  was  not  disappointed.  The  boat's  crew  returned 
with  the  report  that  on  the  river's  bank  they  had  come  upon 
two  corpses,  one  of  a  young  and  the  other  of  an  old  man, 
bound  by  the  arms  upon  two  rude  crosses.  To  the  Admiral's 
anxious  queries  as  to  whether  they  were  natives  or  Spaniards, 
the  crew  could  only  reply  that  there  was  no  means  of  telling, 
except  that  around  the  old  man's  neck  and  feet  were  cords 
of  esparto  grass,  such  as  those  made  in  Spain.  Fearful  of 
evil,  the  Admiral  now  landed  with  a  large  party,  and  on  that 
afternoon  and  the  next  day  made  a  thorough  search  of  the 
neighborhood  in  the  hope  of  obtaining  some  further  news. 
The  natives  appeared  in  considerable  numbers  and  showed 
the  utmost  friendliness.  They  manifested  no  embarrass 
ment  in  meeting  the  Spaniards,  but  gleefully  paraded  their 
acquisition  of  a  few  Castilian  words,  touching  the  dress  of 
their  visitors  and  repeating  "jacket,"  "shirt,"  to  indicate 
their  proficiency  in  the  white  man's  tongue.  For  the  mo 
ment,  Columbus  was  reassured  as  to  the  safety  of  his  garri 
son,  for  it  was  evident  the  natives  had  been  in  long  contact 
with  his  men;  but  his  distress  was  renewed  when  some 
sailors,  on  ascending  the  river,  found  two  more  corpses,  one 
92 


A   BITTER  DISILLUSION.  93 

of  which  still  bore  traces  of  a  beard.  This  could  be  no 
Indian,  and  it  only  remained  to  ascertain  whether  these 
bodies  represented  stragglers  from  the  fort,  slain  while 
engaged  in  some  forbidden  foray,  or  whether  all  the  force 
at  Navidad  had  shared  a  like  fate.  Filled  with  the  gloom 
iest  forebodings,  the  Admiral  returned  on  board,  weighed 
anchor,  and  stood  for  the  port  of  Navidad  without  further 
delay.  While  the  fleet  was  under  sail,  a  large  canoe  put 
out  from  land  and  rapidly  approached  the  flagship,  as  if  to 
inspect  it.  In  a  few  moments  it  put  about,  and  returned 
to  the  beach  with  the  same  speed. 

It  was  late  in  the  evening  when  the  fleet  made  the  en 
trance  of  the  harbor,  and,  with  a  lively  remembrance  of  its 
fatal  shoals,  came  to  anchor  about  a  league  off  shore  and 
waited  for  daylight  before  attempting  to  enter.  Late  as  it 
was,  the  flagship  discharged  two  cannon  to  see  whether  the 
garrison  would  give  an  answering  signal,  but  the  echoes 
rumbled  through  the  night  without  eliciting  a  response. 
Long  time  the  crowds  of  anxious  voyagers  which  lined  the 
bulwarks  and  thronged  the  castles  of  the  little  vessels  watched 
for,  at  least,  some  fire  or  the  gleam  of  a  torch;  but,  save  for 
the  bright  flash  of  the  drifting  fire-flies,  no  light  appeared. 
The  ominous  silence  sunk  into  the  hearts  of  all.  The  damp 
night-wind  drew  straight  from  land,  but  brought  no  hail  or 
cry;  not  a  sound  was  to  be  heard,  except  the  swash  of  the 
breakers  on  the  shoals  near  by,  or  the  low  tones  of  the  awe- 
stricken  men.  The  blackness  of  the  tropical  night  was 
deepest  in  the  direction  of  the  fortress,  for  there  lay  the 
forests  with  their  double  shade,  which  seemed  pregnant 
with  disaster  and  death.  So  passed  the  early  watches;  ear 
and  eye  were  strained  to  catch  some  indication,  however 
feeble,  of  the  presence  on  shore  of  Arana  and  his  fellow- 
pioneers.  But  all  in  vain;  silence  and  darkness  reigned 
unbroken.  Truly  a  portentous  welcome  for  the  Viceroy  of 
the  Indies;  a  bitter  disillusion  for  his  light-hearted  com 
panions.  Towards  midnight,  the  muffled  beating  of  pad 
dles,  drawing  steadily  nearer,  came  over  the  still  waters,  and 
every  watcher  on  the  ships  strained  his  eyes  to  catch  a  sight 
of  the  approaching  boat.  Would  it  contain  a  Spanish  crew, 


94          THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

or  a  band  of  naked  Indians?  Would  its  news  be  cause  for 
excited  vivas,  or  only  deepen  the  deadly  gloom  which 
weighed  down  every  soul  aboard  the  fleet?  Swiftly  the  dim 
outlines  of  a  native  canoe  drew  out  of  the  darkness,  heading 
for  the  caravel  nearest  the  land.  A  few  broken  inquiries  and 
eager  rejoinders,  and  it  swept  away  and  steered  for  the  flag 
ship.  As  it  approached,  a  throng  of  anxious  faces  bent  over 
the  rail  and  a  score  of  questions  were  shouted  into  the  dark 
ness.  No  answer  came,  until  the  paddles  ceased  their  hur 
ried  plashing  and  the  canoe  lay  under  the  "  Maria  Galante's  " 
counter.  Then  a  single  Castilian  word  was  heard,  buried 
in  a  flood  of  unfamiliar  gutturals, —  "Almirante?"  Yes, 
man,  the  Admiral  is  here;  catch  this  rope  and  come  aboard. 
Again  the  strange  sounds  ending  with  the  one  Spanish  word, 
—  "  Almirante  ?  "  The  Admiral  strode  to  the  ship's  side 
and  ordered  a  bystander  to  hold  a  lantern,  so  the  canoeman 
might  see  his  face.  No  sooner  did  the  light  fall  on  his 
commanding  form,  than  two  of  the  Indians  sprang  on  board 
and  bent  in  profound  salutations  before  him.  The  Admiral 
recognized  in  the  principal  one  that  nephew  of  King  Gua- 
canagari  who  had  so  innocently  betrayed  the  golden  secrets 
of  Cibao  at  the  time  of  the  Spaniards'  first  visit.  Quickly 
calling  Diego,  the  interpreter,  Columbus  asked  the  visitors 
what  news  they  brought  of  his  governor,  Arana,  and  the 
garrison  he  had  left  in  the  fort  yonder.  The  Indians  gave 
some  evasive  reply  and  offered  the  Admiral  two  of  the 
golden  masks  he  had  so  willingly  received  when  he  was 
before  with  them,  repeating  at  the  same  time  a  long  com 
plimentary  harangue  with  which  Guacanagari  sent  to  wel 
come  the  Spanish  chief.  Again  the  Admiral  insisted  upon 
knowing  why  his  garrison  had  failed  to  answer  his  signals 
or  give  any  signs  of  life,  and  at  length  the  Indians  ex 
plained  that  some  of  the  men  had  died  from  illness,  others 
had  been  killed  in  a  fight,  and  the  rest  had  gone  off  into 
the  interior  with  the  harems  which  they  had  collected  from 
among  the  native  villages.  Guacanagari  himself  was  no 
longer  at  the  town  near  Navidad,  where  Columbus  had  first 
met  him,  but  was  some  distance  off,  laid  up  with  a  wounded 
leg.  He  wished  greatly  to  come  in  person  to  see  the 


A   BITTER  DISILLUSION.  95 

Admiral,  but  his  hurt  would  not  permit;  as  soon  as  he  could 
move  he  would  come.  There  had  been  a  great  battle, 
these  messengers  affirmed,  between  Guacanagari  and  the 
two  Kings  of  Maguana,  Caonabo,  and  Mayrionex,  who  had 
invaded  the  former's  territory.  They  had  been  beaten  off 
finally,  but  not  before  they  had  burned  Guacanagari 's  town 
and  the  fortress  of  Navidad,  and  grievously  wounded  that 
cacique.  As  to  the  safety  of  the  Spaniards  in  the  fortress, 
they  would  say  no  more  than  that  some  had  been  killed  and 
others  retired  inland.  The  Admiral  detained  them  on  board 
for  three  hours,  questioning  and  cross-questioning  them  in 
the  hope  of  reaching  some  definite  knowledge  concerning 
his  men.  The  Indians  appeared  to  be  frank  and  outspoken, 
and,  despite  the  throng  of  white  men  who  crowded  to  listen 
to  the  examination,  they  exhibited  only  satisfaction  at  being 
again  with  the  white  cacique;  but  they  added  nothing  to 
their  first  statements  as  to  the  missing  Christians.  Colum 
bus  gave  them  the  food  and  drink  which  they  had  liked  so 
much  when  he  first  arrived  among  them,  and  made  them 
liberal  gifts  of  the  trinkets  they  prized.  When  they  were 
leaving,  he  sent  Guacanagari  a  couple  of  pewter  basins  and 
a  number  of  showy  articles,  which  were  sure  to  be  highly 
appreciated,  and  bade  them  tell  the  King  that  the  Admiral 
would  visit  him  shortly.  With  this  they  entered  the  canoe 
lying  alongside,  and  in  a  moment  were  lost  in  the  dark 
ness. 

The  Admiral  and  his  companions  on  the  flagship  were 
left  in  perplexity,  as  the  result  of  this  visit.  They  had  iden 
tified  the  canoe  as  the  same  which  had  put  out  from  shore 
in  the  afternoon  to  inspect  the  passing  fleet,  and  Columbus 
had  intentionally  questioned  the  two  savages  in  the  presence 
of  his  officers.  At  the  same  time,  friendly  as  they  seemed, 
no  one  quite  believed  their  statements.  The  almost  palpable 
gloom  and  quiet  which  hung  over  sea  and  shore  were  more 
eloquent  than  the  ready  protestations  of  Guacanagari 's 
emissaries.  The  Admiral  had  more  than  once  recited  to  his 
associates  the  incidents  of  his  first  arrival  in  these  waters,  — 
the  swarms  of  canoes  which  surrounded  his  ships,  the  thou 
sands  of  hospitable  natives  who  flocked  to  do  him  honor, 


96          THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

the  gifts  of  gold  and  other  precious  commodities  with  which 
he  was  received.  They  had  themselves  as  often  pictured 
the  joy  of  their  waiting  countrymen  when  the  stately  fleet 
should  appear  in  the  offing,  and  had  rehearsed  the  delights 
of  dwelling  amid  such  favored  scenes  after  the  discomforts 
and  hardships  of  their  long  voyage.  Here,  however,  was 
the  stern  reality.  A  single  canoe,  stealthily  visiting  them 
by  night,  stood  for  the  thousand  they  expected ;  two  naked 
savages,  for  the  joyous  crowd  they  hoped  to  see;  the  deathly 
stillness  of  this  appalling  gloom,  for  the  noisy  greetings  of 
the  pioneers  of  Navidad.  They  gathered  some  consolation 
from  the  repeated  declarations  of  the  two  natives,  to  the 
effect  that  the  greater  part  of  the  garrison  was  yet  living; 
but  an  ugly  report  was  circulated  soon  after  the  messengers 
departed  that  Diego,  the  interpreter,  said  they  had  told 
him  that  all  the  Spaniards  at  Navidad  were  dead.  To  the 
Admiral's  apprehensions  on  this  score  was  also  added  anxi 
ety  caused  by  the  uprising  of  Caonabo  and  Mayrionex.  He 
had  counted  on  the  same  peace  and  friendliness  which  had 
so  attracted  him  the  year  before,  and  had  to  encounter  in 
stead  the  difficulties  and  perplexities  of  a  tribal  war.  His 
own  expectations  were  as  pitilessly  annihilated  as  had  been 
the  brilliant  hopes  of  his  followers.  For  commander  and 
followers  alike,  the  long-anticipated  arrival  in  the  vaunted 
Hispaniola  was  the  occasion  of  discouragement  and  mis 
giving. 

Either  because  the  wind  did  not  serve,  or  because  he 
deemed  it  more  prudent  to  await  Guacanagari's  visit  before 
landing,  the  Admiral  did  not  enter  the  port  of  Navidad 
with  the  fleet  until  the  afternoon  of  the  next  day,  Thursday, 
November  28th.  Early  in  the  morning,  however,  he  de 
spatched  a  small  force  on  shore  to  visit  the  fortress  and 
examine  the  vicinity  for  traces  of  its  former  guardians. 
The  search-party  found  nothing  but  the  charred  remains  of 
the  barracks  and  palisade,  with  some  military  cloaks  and 
other  garments  scattered  through  the  debris.  There  was  no 
indication  of  a  battle,  beyond  the  destruction  of  the  fort 
and  its  out-buildings.  As  the  Spaniards  were  examining 
the  ruins,  a  number  of  natives  made  their  appearance;  but, 


A   BITTER  DISILLUSION.  97 

instead  of  coming  frankly  to  meet  the  white  men,  they 
hung  back  and  seemed  to  be  afraid;  for  whenever  the 
Spaniards  drew  near  they  fled  to  the  adjoining  woods. 
Behavior  so  different  from  that  which  they  expected  caused 
abundant  speculation  among  the  visitors,  and  they  sought 
to  conciliate  the  Indians  by  throwing  beads  and  hawk-bells 
towards  them  as  evidence  of  pacific  intention.  With  this, 
four  of  the  natives  summoned  courage  enough  to  join  the 
Spaniards,  one  of  the  number  being,  as  it  appeared,  a  rela 
tive  of  Guacanagari.  The  party  thereupon  returned  to 
their  boat,  the  Indians  with  them,  and  went  aboard  the 
flagship,  where  the  Admiral  listened  to  their  report  with  a 
heavy  heart.  In  answer  to  his  questions,  Guacanagari 's 
kinsman  repeated  much  the  same  story  as  the  two  mes 
sengers  of  the  night  before.  Caonabo  and  Mayrionex,  he 
affirmed,  had  joined  forces  and  come  to  attack  Guacanagari 
and  his  Christian  allies.  A  great  fight  followed,  in  which 
the  assailants  lost  heavily  as  well  as  the  defenders;  but 
Guacanagari  was  routed  and  received  an  arrow  wound  in 
the  calf  of  his  leg.  He  was  very  desirous  of  visiting  the 
Admiral,  as  soon  as  he  heard  of  the  latter' s  presence  on  the 
coast:  and,  if  the  Admiral  wished,  the  narrator  would  him 
self  go  and  tell  the  King  how  anxious  the  Spanish  cacique 
was  to  meet  him.  To  this  Columbus  assented,  for  he  had 
begun  to  fear  that  last  night's  messengers  must  have  been 
capsized  and  drowned,  since  no  word  had  been  received 
from  Guacanagari  during  the  entire  day.  Accordingly  the 
four  Indians  were  sent  ashore,  with  the  usual  allowance  of 
presents,  and  promised  to  make  all  speed  in  bearing  the 
Admiral's  messages  to  their  master. 

Friday  morning,  as  nothing  further  was  heard  from  the 
King,  the  Admiral  himself  went  ashore  with  a  large  party 
and  scoured  the  neighborhood.  He  had  little  hope  now  of 
seeing  any  of  his  unfortunate  pioneers  alive.  Although  the 
Indians  had  obstinately  refused  to  admit  the  death  of  all 
the  garrison,  there  was  a  vacillation  and  embarrassment 
noticeable  whenever  they  were  pressed  for  details  of  the 
catastrophe  which,  as  all  might  see,  had  overtaken  the  little 
colony.  Some  of  the  Admiral's  associates  maintained  that 

7 


98          THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

the  whole  disaster  was  due  to  some  act  of  savage  treachery 
on  the  part  of  Guacanagari,  and  that  his  persistent  absence 
was  proof  positive  of  a  guilty  fear.  Columbus,  however, 
refused  to  listen  to  any  such  theories.  If  Guacanagari  had 
wished  to  free  himself  from  the  Christians,  he  had  had  ample 
opportunity,  the  Admiral  argued,  when  they  were  ship 
wrecked  off  his  harbor  on  Christmas  Eve  the  year  before. 
The  recollection  of  the  King's  unbounded  hospitality  and 
generous  assistance  in  those  distressful  days  forbade  any 
suspicion  of  a  subsequent  faithlessness  which  was  certain 
to  involve  him  in  a  terrible  vengeance.  Consequently  the 
Admiral  preferred  to  believe  that  the  other  and  wilder  tribes 
had  attacked  the  fortress  and  Guacanagari 's  town,  and  de 
stroyed  both.  When  he  reached  the  ruined  stockade,  he 
examined  minutely  all  the  indications  which  might  throw 
any  light  on  the  nature  of  the  calamity.  The  tall  coarse  grass 
of  the  tropics  had  overgrown  the  site,  but  this,  on  account 
of  the  rapidity  with  which  it  grew,  conveyed  no  approxi 
mate  idea  of  time.  Here  and  there  was  a  broken  bow,  a 
soiled  jacket,  a  rough  table-cloth  such  as  soldiers  might 
use.  No  other  sign  was  discernible,  and  the  visitors  were 
puzzled  to  account  for  the  clothing  scattered  about.  If 
there  had  been  a  raid  by  distant  tribes,  how  happened  it 
that  plunder  so  valuable  in  the  eyes  of  naked  savages  as 
these  mantles  and  cotton  cloths  had  been  left  behind?  If 
there  had  been  a  fight,  where  were  the  slain?  No  one 
could  conceive  of  twoscore  Spaniards,  possessed  of  artil 
lery,  arquebuses,  and  cross-bows,  and  protected  by  stout  pali- 
.sades,  yielding  themselves  alive  into  the  hands  of  a  horde 
of  Indians  armed  with  nothing  better  than  bone-tipped 
arrows  and  wooden  spears  hardened  at  the  fire.  All  that 
they  saw  only  deepened  the  perplexity  of  the  Admiral  and 
his  companions,  and  the  singular  disappearance  again  of 
.all  the  natives  lent  color  to  the  worst  suspicions.  The  one 
ray  of  hope  that  remained  to  him  was  that  he  had  so 
straightly  enjoined  Arana,  Gutierrez,  and  Escovedo,  and 
their  men,  that  under  no  circumstances  whatever  were  they 
to  separate  into  several  bands;  that,  come  what  might,  they 
were  to  keep  together.  It  was  barely  possible,  therefore, 


A   BITTER  DISILLUSION.  99 

that  they  might,  on  hearing  of  the  proposed  attack,  have 
abandoned  the  fortress  as  untenable  and  retired  to  some 
more  defensible  position.  But  another  of  his  written  in 
junctions,  on  parting  from  them,  had  been  that,  in  the 
event  of  leaving  Navidad,  they  were  to  bury  in  the  pit  dug 
for  the  purpose  within  the  fort  all  the  gold,  spices,  drugs, 
and  other  precious  commodities  which,  in  pursuance  of  his 
orders,  they  were  to  collect  against  his  return.  By  inves 
tigating  this  cache  something  of  importance  or  value  might 
be  discovered.  The  Admiral  accordingly  set  a  party  to 
work  to  clear  out  the  pit,  while  he  took  Dr.  Chanca  and 
some  others  of  his  suite  alongshore  in  the  barge  to  look 
for  a  place  more  suitable  than  Navidad,  where  he  might 
disembark  his  forces,  "because  it  was  quite  time  that  we 
did  so,"  the  Doctor  remarks,  with  professional  solicitude 
for  his  cooped-up  charges.  A  few  miles  from  the  ruined 
fortress  they  found  a  native  hamlet  by  the  shore,  the  in 
habitants  of  which  fled  as  they  saw  the  Spaniards  approach. 
Entering  their  cabins  ("the  huts  were  so  damp  and  covered 
with  vegetation  that  I  am  astonished  they  can  live  at  all," 
Dr.  Chanca  says),  the  explorers  found  hidden  away,  indoors 
and  among  the  shrubbery  outside,  quite  a  store  of  Spanish 
goods,  which  were  too  valuable  to  have  been  acquired  in  a 
lifetime  by  legitimate  barter.  There  were  Moorish  hang 
ings  in  packages  as  yet  unopened,  trousers  and  pieces  of 
cloth,  and  one  of  the  anchors  of  the  Admiral's  lost  ship, 
the  "  Santa  Maria."  All  these,  he  knew,  had  formed  part  of 
the  large  deposit  of  Castilian  goods  which  he  had  left  with 
Arana  for  trading  with  the  natives,  and  their  presence  in 
such  a  place  only  increased  his  perplexity;  while  those  of 
his  companions  who  attributed  to  Guacanagari's  treachery 
the  destruction  of  the  garrison  found  material  enough 
wherewith  to  fortify  their  theories.  For  a  moment  the 
visitors  were  horrified,  on  opening  a  carefully  closed 
basket,  to  find  therein  a  human  head,  which  they  naturally 
feared  might  have  belonged  to  one  of  their  countrymen; 
but  a  moment's  scrutiny  showed  that  it  was  that  of  an 
Indian,  and  they  learned  from  the  Admiral  that  he  had 


100        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

found  several  such  in  different  places,  both  in  Cuba  and 
Hispaniola,  when  on  his  first  voyage.1 

The  Admiral  returned  with  his  party  to  the  former  site 
of  Guacanagari's  town,  near  the  fortress,  and  there  found 
that  a  considerable  number  of  Indians  had  assembled  to 
traffic  with  the  Spaniards,  having  to  all  appearance  laid 
aside  their  fears,  and  seeming  anxious  to  show  their  friend 
liness  to  the  white  men.  The  latter  had  already  secured  a 
small  quantity  of  gold  from  the  natives  when  the  Admiral 
arrived,  and  he  took  advantage  of  the  newly  established 
confidence  to  make  another  effort  to  reach  the  truth  con 
cerning  his  ill-fated  settlement.  This  time  he  was  more 
successful,  albeit  the  success  was  a  confirmation  of  his  dir 
est  apprehensions.  The  Indians  pointed  out  where  eight 
of  the  luckless  garrison  were  buried  near  the  fortress,  and 
the  Spaniards  soon  after  came  upon  three  more  bodies 
lying  amidst  the  grass,  which,  from  their  clothes,  were 
easily  identified  as  belonging  to  Arana's  force.  From  the 
appearance  of  these  last  corpses  and  the  height  of  the  grass 
over  the  graves,  the  massacre,  if  such  it  was,  must  have 
taken  place  a  month  before,  more  or  less.  After  this  dis 
covery,  there  remained  nothing  for  the  Admiral  to  do  but 
endeavor  to  fix  the  responsibility  for  the  disaster.  While 
he  was  directing  a  search  for  some  written  document  or 
other  record  which  might  throw  light  upon  this  question, 
—  for  nothing  had  been  found  in  the  pit, —  he  was  ap 
proached  by  several  Indians,  among  whom  was  that  brother 
of  Guacanagari  who  had  wished  to  accompany  the  Admiral 
to  Spain  when  he  was  leaving  Navidad.  Several  of  these 
natives  had  acquired  enough  Spanish  from  the  men  of  the 
.garrison,  before  the  annihilation  of  the  latter,  to  make 
themselves  at  least  partly  understood,  and  could  repeat  the 
names  of  Arana  and  all  his  followers,  thus  indicating  their 

1  It  was  cherished  with  such  obvious  pains  that  Chanca  says,  "  We 
judged  it  at  the  time  to  be  the  head  of  a  father  or  mother,  or  of  some 
greatly  esteemed  person," — clear  proof,  if  any  such  were  needed,  that 
the  observant  Doctor  distinguished  between  those  fragments  of  human 
ity  kept  from  religious  motives  and  those  kept  for  merely  nutritive 
purposes,  as  at  Guadalupe. 


A   BITTER  DISILLUSION.  IOI 

familiarity  with  the  occupants  of  the  fortress.  With  the 
aid  of  the  interpreter,  Diego,  a  connected  recital  was  pos 
sible,  and  from  this  party  the  Admiral  first  heard  a  coherent 
statement  of  the  circumstances  attending  the  annihilation 
of  the  pioneer  settlement  of  Europeans  in  the  New  World. 
According  to  their  account,  no  sooner  had  the  "Nina" 
taken  her  departure,  early  in  January,  than  disputes  arose 
between  the  three  lieutenants  —  Arafia,  Escovedo,  and  Guti 
errez  —  and  their  men;  the  officers  wishing  to  carry  out  the 
Admiral's  instructions  to  explore  the  country,  seek  a  better 
site  for  a  town  along  the  coast,  and  establish  an  active  traffic 
with  the  natives,  while  the  men  wished  only  to  enjoy  life 
and  secure  all  the  gold  they  could  for  themselves.  No 
doubt  they  argued  that  the  chances  were  so  small  of  Colum 
bus  ever  reaching  Spain,  or,  if  he  did,  of  his  ever  finding 
his  way  back  to  Navidad,  that  it  was  not  worth  their  while 
to  subject  themselves  to  military  discipline  in  his  absence. 
At  all  events,  every  man  traded  for  his  own  account,  and 
each  one  appropriated  as  many  of  the  native  women  as 
pleased  his  fancy.  Gutierrez  and  Escovedo  killed  one  of 
their  associates  in  the  course  of  a  dispute,  and  thereupon 
made  up  a  faction  with  nine  others  of  the  garrison  who 
were  Basques,  and,  abandoning  the  fortress,  set  out  for  the 
territories  of  King  Caonabo,  where  the  richest  mines  were 
said  to  be  found,  taking  with  them  a  bevy  of  Indian  houris. 
On  reaching  Caonabo' s  country,  that  wily  chief  at  once  per 
ceived  his  opportunity,  and,  after  learning  all  he  could  con 
cerning  the  condition  of  Guacanagari  and  his  remaining 
Christian  allies,  entered  into  a  league  with  his  brother  May- 
rionex  to  descend  upon  Marien,  as  the  territory  of  Guacan 
agari  was  called,  overthrow  its  king,  and  clear  out  the  nest 
of  mysterious  strangers  who  had  miraculously  appeared  in 
their  island.  As  an  earnest  of  his  intentions,  he  killed 
every  one  of  the  Spaniards  who  had  entered  his  country. 
While  this  plot  was  in  preparation,  most  of  the  other  mem 
bers  of  the  garrison  had  likewise  wandered  off  in  small 
groups  of  two,  three,  or  four,  as  might  be,  bent  upon  lead 
ing  the  lives  that  best  pleased  them  among  the  simple  and 
confiding  people  of  Marien.  At  length  Diego  de  Arana  was 


102        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

left  with  only  five  loyal  companions  to  guard  the  fortress. 
All  idea  of  fulfilling  the  Admiral's  orders  as  to  exploration 
and  preparations  for  future  colonization  had  to  be  aban 
doned  as  completely  as  had  been  his  injunctions  to  respect 
Guacanagari  and  offer  no  affront  to  his  people.  Affairs  were 
in  this  posture  when  the  two  hostile  kings  made  their 
appearance.  Guacanagari  endeavored  to  defend  his  town 
and  avert  the  attack  from  the  fortress,  but  was  defeated  and 
wounded.  Caonabo  and  Mayrionex  surrounded  the  stockade 
and  succeeded  in  firing  it  and  the  surrounding  cabins  by 
night,  whereupon  Arana  with  his  little  band  fled  towards  the 
water,  hoping  to  escape  in  the  darkness,  but  were  all  either 
slaughtered  or  drowned.  The  invaders  withdrew  into  their 
own  territories,  Guacanagari  took  refuge  in  one  of  his  own 
villages  a  few  leagues  away,  and  nothing  remained  to  remind 
the  Haytians  of  the  wonderful  visitation  of  the  white  beings 
they  so  foolishly  believed  had  come  from  the  skies,  except 
a  heap  of  charred  timbers,  a  lot  of  scattered  trumpery,  and 
the  corpses  of  thirty  or  forty  strangers  lying  among  their 
forests  and  mountains. 

The  Admiral  was  inclined  to  accept  this  relation  as  true, 
but  he  found  few  among  his  companions  of  a  like  mind; 
they  were  equally  convinced  that  the  whole  story  was  a  fic 
tion  palmed  off  on  the  Spaniards  by  Guacanagari  to  conceal 
his  own  treachery,  and  pointed,  as  evidence,  to  the  Euro 
pean  wares  in  the  possession  of  his  tribesmen  and  their 
avoidance  of  the  white  men  when  the  latter  first  landed. 
"They  all  said,  with  one  accord,"  writes  Chanca,  "that 
Caonabo  and  Mayrionex  had  killed  the  Christians,  but  at 
the  same  time  they  added  their  own  complaint  that,  of  the 
Christians,  one  had  three  wives,  another  four,  and  so  on; 
from  which  we  suspected  that  the  harm  which  had  befallen 
them  had  its  origin  in  jealousy."  Considering  that  the 
wives  thus  multitudinously  appropriated  by  the  white  men 
were  the  wives  and  daughters  of  the  speakers,  one  should 
think  that  their  complaints  might  be  justifiably  made  with 
out  necessarily  implicating  the  complainants  in  a  wholesale 
homicide. 

The  next  day  further  confirmation  of  the  story  told  by  the 


A   BITTER  DISILLUSION. 


103 


King's  brother  was  received.  The  Admiral  sent  Melchior 
Maldonado  and  four  or  five  of  his  officers,  with  a  caravel, 
along  the  coast  in  one  direction  to  look  for  a  desirable  site 
for  the  proposed  new  town,  while  he  went  in  person,  with  a 
second  caravel,  to  carry  on  the  search  in  an  opposite  quar 
ter.  As  seems  to  have  been  his  habit,  the  Admiral  carried 
with  him  the  surgeon  of  the  expedition,  in  order  to  have 
the  benefit  of  his  judgment  as  to  the  healthfulness  of  the  sites 
examined.  They  came  upon  a  port  which  offered  many 
advantages,  but  was  too  far  from  the  mines  of  Cibao  to  suit 
the  Admiral's  plans;  so  the  party  returned  to  the  anchorage 
at  Navidad,  where  they  found  Maldonado  already  awaiting 
them  with  important  tidings.  As  he  coasted  leisurely  along 
shore,  a  canoe  containing  two  Indians  had  put  out  from  the 
beach  and  hailed  the  caravel.  One  of  the  natives  proved 
to  be  Guacanagari's  brother,  who  inquired  who  was  on 
board  the  Spanish  vessel.  The  Spaniards  replied,  some  of 
their  chief  men;  whereupon  the  Indian  said  that  CJuacana- 
gari  had  sent  to  invite  them  to  visit  him,  as  he  was  near 
there  but  could  not  yet  leave  his  hammock.  Melchior  and  the 
other  officers  accordingly  landed  and  followed  their  guides 
to  a  village  of  some  fifty  cabins,  where  they  found  the  King 
pretending,  as  they  thought,  to  be  invalided  with  his  wound. 
He  received  them  with  much  affability,  and  entered  into  a 
long  story  of  the  fate  of  the  garrison  at  Navidad,  which  agreed 
essentially  with  what  his  brother  had  told  the  Admiral.  In 
proof  of  what  he  alleged  he  showed  the  visitors  his  ban 
daged  leg,  which  somewhat  modified  their  belief  that  he 
was  shamming.  When  they  took  their  leave  he  repeated 
his  desire  to  see  the  Admiral,  and  presented  each  of  the 
officers  with  a  golden  ornament,  in  proportion  to  what 
seemed  to  be  his  respective  rank.  This  had  a  mollifying 
influence  on  some  of  the  Spaniards,  although  others  still 
insisted  that  the  King  was  playing  a  part. 

Upon  learning  of  the  proximity  of  Guacanagari,  the 
Admiral  determined  to  visit  him  and  satisfy  himself  con 
cerning  the  attitude  of  his  former  ally.  It  was  of  the  first 
importance  to  know  whether  he  had  indeed  acted  the  part 
of  a  traitor  or  of  a  friend  toward  Arana's  command.  If 


104        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

the  former,  no  punishment  would  be  too  severe ;  if  the  latter, 
he  might  still  be  of  invaluable  assistance  to  the  new  colony. 
The  next  day,  therefore,  the  Admiral  set  out  for  the  vil 
lage  visited  by  Maldonado,  taking  with  him  Dr.  Chanca  in 
order  to  get  a  reliable  report  of  the  nature  of  Guacanagari's 
wound.  He  also  ordered  the  whole  fleet  to  weigh  an 
chor  and  shift  to  an  anchorage  nearer  the  hamlet  where 
the  King  was.  As  we  have,  of  late,  heard  so  much  of  the 
heartless  brutality  of  Columbus' s  treatment  of  the  natives, 
it  may  not  be  uninteresting  to  hear  Dr.  Chanca' s  own  account 
of  this  visit  which  the  Admiral  paid  to  the  disabled  cacique, 
whom  most  of  the  principal  officers  were  urging  him  to  seize 
and  punish  for  the  massacre  of  the  men  of  Navidad. 

"  When  we  reached  the  place,"  the  surgeon  writes,  "  it  was 
about  meal-time ;  so  we  breakfasted  before  going  ashore.  As 
soon  as  we  were  finished  the  Admiral  ordered  all  of  his  captains 
to  land  with  their  boats.  The  Admiral  landed  at  the  same  place 
with  all  his  suite,  so  bravely  attired  that  they  would  have  made 
a  goodly  show  in  a  capital  city.  He  took  with  him  some  articles 
as  presents,  for  he  had  already  received  quite  an  amount  of  gold, 
and  it  was  right  that  he  should  show  to  the  King  the  same 
liberality  and  good  will.  Guacanagari  had  also  prepared  an 
offering.  When  we  arrived  we  found  him  stretched  on  a  bed, 
of  the  kind  they  use,  being  a  sort  of  cotton  net  suspended  in  the 
air.  He  did  not  rise,  but  from  the  bed  made  an  attempt  at 
bowing,  as  well  as  he  knew  how.  He  showed  much  grief,  with 
tears  in  his  eyes,  for  the  death  of  the  Christians,  and  began  to 
speak  of  the  affair,  indicating,  as  well  as  he  could,  that  some 
died  of  sickness,  others  had  gone  to  King  Caonabo  to  seek  the 
gold  mines,  and  others  yet  had  been  killed  at  the  settlement  by 
the  natives  who  had  come  to  attack  them.  (From  the  appear 
ance  of  the  bodies  of  the  dead  not  two  months  had  elapsed  since 
this  occurred.)  At  this  time  the  King  presented  the  Admiral 
with  eight  and  a  half  marks  of  gold  and  five  or  six  belts  woven 
in  stones  of  various  colors,1  with  a  cap  of  the  same  work,  which 
it  seems  to  me  they  hold  in  much  esteem.  In  the  cap  was  a 
copper  ornament,  which  was  given  with  much  solemnity.  It 
seems  to  me  that  they  hold  copper  in  greater  esteem  than  gold. 

1  This  is  not  the  only  mention  in  the  records  of  Columbus's  voyages 
of  the  "  wampum "  which  the  Indians  of  North  America  prized  so 
highly. 


A   BITTER  DISILLUSION.  1 05 

"I  and  another  surgeon  of  the  fleet  were  present;  so  the 
Admiral  said  to  Guacanagari  that  we  were  skilled  in  the  ailments 
of  mankind  and  he  wished  the  King  to  show  us  his  wound. 
The  King  replied  that  he  was  willing ;  whereupon  I  told  him  it 
would  be  needful,  if  he  could  do  so,  for  us  to  go  outside  the 
house,  for  there  were  so  many  people  present  that  it  was  rather 
dark  and  we  could  not  see  well.  This  he  did  at  once,  —  I  think 
rather  from  timidity  than  from  readiness,  —  and,  I  supporting 
him,  we  went  outside.  When  he  was  seated  the  other  surgeon 
went  to  him  and  began  to  unwind  his  bandages ;  upon  which  he 
remarked  to  the  Admiral  that  the  wound  had  been  made  with 
£tta,  which  means  a  stone.  After  he  was  unbandaged  we  were 
able  to  feel  him.  It  is  certain  that  he  had  no  more  hurt  in  that 
leg  than  in  the  other,  although  he  pretended  that  it  pained  him 
greatly.  Altogether  it  was  not  possible  to  determine  certainly, 
for  the  circumstances  were  unknown ;  and  with  equal  certainty 
there  were  many  things  which  indicated  that  he  had  been  at 
tacked  by  hostile  people." 

The  Spaniards  left  the  village  and  returned  to  their  ships 
about  equally  divided  as  to  whether  Guacanagari  was  "  play 
ing  fox  "  —  to  use  their  own  expression  —  or  was  really  the 
victim  of  his  rival  Caonabo's  invasion.  He  was  at  least 
so  much  improved  that  he  was  able  to  join  the  Admiral  and 
go  on  board  the  flagship,  where  he  was  regaled  with  the 
white  men's  delicacies  and  shown  the  horses,  whereat  he 
was  mightily  pleased.  The  Admiral  took  occasion  to  ex 
plain  that  he  desired  to  build  a  town  near  Guacanagari 's 
village,  so  as  to  be  near  him;  to  which  he  replied  that  he 
should  be  pleased,  but  that  it  was  unhealthy  by  reason  of 
the  great  dampness, —  "and  so  it  was  of  a  surety,"  inter 
jects  the  Doctor.  Shortly  after  he  took  his  leave  and  went 
ashore.  Before  he  left,  however,  the  Admiral  hung  around 
the  King's  neck  a  silver  image  of  the  Virgin,  which  he  had 
before  pressed  upon  him,  but  unsuccessfully.  This  inci 
dent  has  been  interpreted  as  an  instance  of  his  hypocrisy, 
but  Columbus  may  have  been  telling  the  truth  when  he 
wrote  of  it  that  "  he  learned  at  the  village  that  one  of  the 
thirty-nine  men  whom  he  had  left  behind  [the  garrison  at 
Navidad]  had  spoken  to  the  Indians  and  to  Guacanagari 
himself  certain  things  in  insult  to  and  detraction  of  our 


106        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

holy  faith,  and  that  he  [the  Admiral]  thought  it  necesary  to 
set  him  [the  King]  right  in  this."  The  effort  to  make  it 
appear  that  Columbus  was  forcing  upon  an  unwilling  sav 
age  the  emblem  of  a  faith  which  the  latter  loathed  for  the 
evil  works  which  he  had  so  recently  seen  done  by  its  pro 
fessors,  is  perhaps  crediting  Guacanagari  with  a  sensibility 
as  forced  as  would  have  been  the  suggested  hypocrisy  of 
Columbus.  Silver  was  infinitely  preferred  to  gold  by  the 
Haytians,  and  Columbus  knew  this,  as  we  may  see  in  the 
journal  of  his  first  voyage.  To  him  the  sacred  image  was 
a  talisman  as  potent  as  it  was  to  his  companion  Hojeda,  or 
to  ninety-nine  out  of  a  hundred  of  the  men  with  him;  while 
to  its  Indian  wearer  it  was  a  fetish  which  would  preserve  him 
in  this  world  and  the  next.  As  such,  it  was  to  Guacanagari 
an  inestimable  treasure,  to  possess  which  he  might  well 
sink  the  earlier  fear  of  "bad  medicine  "  which  the  disaster 
at  Navidad  had  suggested.  It  was  merely  that  best  of  all 
trades, —  one  in  which  both  parties  were  thoroughly  con 
tented. 

At  all  events,  the  gentle  savage  monarch  did  not  "  shrink  " 
from  practising  the  very  evils  which  we  are  asked  to  believe 
he  so  piously  reprobated  in  the  profligate  garrison.  Ten  of 
the  women  rescued  from  the  Caribs  were  on  the  flagship 
at  the  time  of  his  visit,  and  among  them  was  a  tall  beauty 
who  had  been  christened  Dona  Catalina  by  the  Spaniards. 
The  day  after  he  had  come  aboard,  Guacanagari  sent  to  ask 
the  Admiral  when  he  purposed  leaving  the  anchorage. 
Columbus  replied,  the  next  morning.  Shortly  afterwards 
the  King's  brother,  with  several  other  Indians,  came  aboard 
and  engaged  in  bartering  gold  for  the  white  men's  trinkets. 
Some  conversation  passed  between  them  and  the  rescued 
women,  after  which  the  men  left  the  ship.  That  night, 
during  the  first  watch,  the  dusky  belles  quietly  slipped  over 
the  ship's  side,  one  after  another,  and  made  such  speed 
for  shore  that,  by  the  time  their  absence  was  discovered  and 
chase  was  made  after  them  with  boats,  all  but  four  had 
reached  land  and  disappeared.  As  soon  as  it  was  day  the 
Admiral  sent  to  demand  the  fugitives  from  Guacanagari, 
saying  that  otherwise  he  should  send  at  once  and  take 


A   SITTER  DISILLUSION.  IO/ 

them;  but  the  Spaniards  found  the  village  deserted  by 
every  living  soul.  With  the  women,  Guacanagari,  the 
earliest  protector  and  ally  of  the  Europeans  in  the  New 
World,  disappears  for  a  season  from  our  ken.  He  is  en 
titled  to  all  the  credit  he  has  received  as  an  admirable 
type  of  the  race  to  which  he  belonged;  but  there  is  some 
thing  grotesque  in  a  criticism  which  asks  us  seriously  to 
sympathize  with  his  conscientious  scruples  against  accept 
ing  from  the  hand  of  Columbus  the  badge  of  the  Christian 
religion,  because  it  permitted  the  wholesale  abduction  of 
women,  and  which  then  calmly  proceeds  to  relate  how, 
within  twenty-four  hours  thereafter,  he  and  his  brother  car 
ried  off  half  a  score  of  the  Spanish  protegees  who  happened 
to  attract  their  royal  fancies. 

The  sudden  flight  of  Guacanagari  intensified  the  suspi 
cions  of  his  bad  faith  cherished  by  most  of  the  Spaniards. 
Some  of  the  royal  officers,  and  with  them  Fray  Boi'l,  the 
Papal  legate,  were  disposed  to  criticise  the  Admiral 
because  he  had  not  laid  hands  on  the  King  when  the 
latter  came  on  shipboard;  while  others  as  vehemently  took 
the  same  view  as  Columbus  and  claimed  that  Guacanagari 
had  only  moved  from  the  village  to  some  other,  following 
the  sudden  impulse  of  the  moment,  as  was  common  with 
these  childish  people.  The  day  was  spent  in  discussion, 
for  the  direction  of  the  wind  was  such  that  the  fleet  could 
not  with  advantage  continue  its  cruise  alongshore.  Find 
ing  the  same  weather  prevailing  the  next  morning,  the 
Admiral  ordered  out  all  the  boats,  and,  accompanied  by  the 
lightest  caravels,  started  to  the  eastward,  keeping  close  to 
the  land.  His  object  was  chiefly  to  find  a  suitable  location 
for  his  proposed  town,  for  none  of  those  thus  far  inspected 
met  all  his  requirements;  but  he  also  proposed,  if  possible, 
to  make  an  effort  to  trace  the  runaway  King.  To  this  end 
he  detached  Melchior  Maldonado  with  a  force  of  three 
hundred  men  to  explore  a  river  which  they  came  to,  while 
the  Admiral  proceeded  with  the  remainder  to  examine  a 
harbor  farther  on,  which  he  thought  might  serve.  Wher 
ever  the  Spaniards  landed  they  found  the  native  cabins 
deserted,  and  could  meet  with  no  one  from  whom  to  learn 


108        THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

the  cause  until,  as  they  were  walking  in  the  neighborhood 
of  one  hamlet,  they  came  upon  a  solitary  Indian  lying  upon 
the  ground  with  a  ghastly  lance  wound  in  the  back.  The 
man  said  that  he  had  been  wounded  in  an  encounter  with 
Caonabo's  tribe,  and  that  they  had  also  burned  down 
Guacanagari's  village.  This  only  served  to  heighten  the 
confusion  under  which  the  Spaniards  were  laboring  con 
cerning  this  enigmatical  prince,  and  it  was  not  lessened  by 
the  report  of  Melchior,  who  said  that  he  had  met  a  band 
of  stalwart  savages  who  disclaimed  any  knowledge  of  Gua- 
canagari,  or  connection  with  him,  but  had  willingly 
exchanged  tokens  of  friendship  with  the  white  men.  Al 
together,  what  with  the  imperfect  knowledge  Diego,  the 
interpreter,  had  of  the  Haytian  dialect,  the  still  slighter 
skill  in  Spanish  which  the  Indians  near  Navidad  had 
acquired  from  the  garrison,  and  the  preconceptions  which 
led  the  Admiral's  followers  to  interpret  gestures  and  half- 
understood  phrases  according  to  their  individual  bias,  the 
mystery  surrounding  the  destruction  of  the  first  settlement 
of  Europeans  in  the  western  world  was  as  far  as  ever  from 
solution.  "Thus,  between  our  scanty  comprehension  of 
what  they  say,  and  the  doubtful  causes  alleged,"  Dr.  Chanca 
writes  in  despair,  "we  are  all  so  befogged  that  even  yet  we 
have  not  been  able  to  learn  the  truth  concerning  the  death 
of  our  people." 

With  this  reconnoissance  the  Admiral  suspended  all 
active  efforts  to  learn  the  exact  fate  of  his  lost  garrison  or 
trace  the  missing  King.  If  any  of  the  men  he  had  left  at 
Navidad  survived,  they  were  hidden  somewhere  in  the 
inaccessible  recesses  of  the  gloomy  Cibao  mountains,  or 
were  living  contentedly  at  ease  in  some  remote  native  vil 
lage.  As  for  Guacanagari,  any  alliance  with  him  now 
would  be  worse  than  useless.  Not  only  was  his  power 
broken,  but  he  had  shown  an  unmistakable  reluctance  to 
reestablish  the  former  intimate  relations  with  the  Spaniards. 
At  the  same  time,  Columbus  could  not  bring  himself  to 
judge  harshly  the  man  to  whom  on  that  last  fateful  Christ 
mas  Eve  he  had  owed  his  own  life  and  that  of  all  of  his  fol 
lowers.  He  understood  the  native  character  better  than 


A   BITTER  DISILLUSION.  109 

most  of  his  companions;  certainly  he  realized  the  necessi 
ties  of  their  present  position  as  fully  as  they.  If  he,  then, 
allowed  the  King  to  go  unharmed,  it  must  have  been 
because,  in  his  deliberate  judgment,  it  would  have  been 
unjust  as  well  as  impolitic  to  detain  him.  We  have  heard 
so  much  in  these  later  days  of  Columbus  as  a  "slave- 
driver,"  a  "man-hunter,"  and  so  on,  that  it  is  only  fair  to 
quote  his  own  reflections,  as  he  entered  them  in  his  jour 
nal  at  the  time,  upon  this  question  of  punishing  Guacana- 
gari  for  the  disaster  which  had  befallen  the  settlement  at 
Navidad.  It  is  also  no  more  than  fair  to  bear  in  mind 
that,  when  he  wrote,  the  Admiral  was  still  laboring  under 
the  double  disappointment  of  having  his  men  sacrificed  so 
unworthily  and  rinding  all  his  carefully  matured  plans  for 
the  collection  of  a  much-needed  revenue  thwarted  by  their 
insubordination  and  defiance  of  his  orders.  What  more 
sufficient  justification  did  he  need  than  the  suspicions 
with  which  Guacanagari  was  surrounded  and  the  almost 
unanimous  opinion  of  the  Spanish  officers  that  the  King's 
guilt  was  abundantly  proved  ?  With  far  less  to  color  their 
acts,  Pizarro  and  Cortez  did  not  hesitate  to  dispose  sum 
marily  of  the  native  princes  who  fell  into  their  hands. 

"  The  Admiral  further  says  in  this  place,1'  writes  Las  Casas, 
transcribing  from  the  journal  of  Columbus  which  lay  before  him, 
"  that  that  priest.  Fray  Boil,  and  all  the  others,  wished  that  he 
should  seize  Guacanagari ;  but  he  did  not  desire  to,  although,  as 
he  says,  he  might  easily  have  done  so.  He  reflected  that,  since 
the  Christians  were  dead,  the  capture  of  the  King  would  neither 
serve  to  bring  them  again  to  life  nor  send  them  to  Paradise,  if, 
perchance,  they  were  not  already  there.  He  also  says  that  it 
appeared  to  him  that  this  King  should  be  treated  here  as  are 
sovereigns  among  the  Christians,  who  have  as  relatives  still  other 
kings  who  would  deem  themselves  offended  in  the  imprisonment 
of  one  of  their  number.  The  sovereigns  of  Castile  had  sent 
him  here  to  people  the  country,  and  had  spent  great  sums  in  so 
doing :  to  seize  the  King  would  be  a  great  obstacle  set  in  the 
way  of  this  colonization,  since  a  war  would  surely  follow  and 
the  native  princes  would  not  permit  him  to  establish  his  town. 
Especially  would  this  be  a  great  embarrassment  for  the  preach 
ing  of  and  conversion  to  our  holy  faith,  which  was  what  their 


HO        THE   LAST    VOYAGES  OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

Majesties  chiefly  had  considered  in  sending  him  hither.  So 
that,  if  what  Guacanagari  had  related  were  really  the  truth,  it 
would  be  a  gross  wrong  to  seize  him,  and  the  whole  country 
would  hold  the  Christians  in  hatred  and  contempt.  They  would 
likewise  consider  the  Admiral  himself  to  be  an  ingrate  on  account 
of  the  great  good  which  he  had  received  at  the  King's  hands  on 
the  first  voyage,  and  still  more  because  the  latter  had  recently 
defended  the  Christians,  to  his  own  hurt,  as  his  wounds  testified. 
Therefore  the  Admiral  determined  first  to  establish  his  colony ; 
if,  after  doing  so  and  being  firmly  settled  in  the  country,  he 
should  learn  the  truth  to  be  otherwise,  he  might  then  chastise 
Guacanagari,  should  he  be  found  guilty." 

That  these  may  be  the  words  of  sublimated  hypocrisy 
we  concede;  but,  had  they  been  written  by  any  other  than 
Columbus,  even  his  critics  would  admit  them  to  be  weighty 
and  politic  conclusions. 


VI. 

TAKING    ROOT. 

IN  the  ten  days  which  had  passed  since  the  fleet  anchored 
off  Navidad,  the  Admiral  had  had  ample  opportunity  to 
gain  a  better  knowledge  of  the  topography  of  Guacanagari's 
province,  Marien,  than  had  been  possible  during  the  hurry 
and  anxiety  of  his  first  visit.  He  saw  now  that  the  country 
was  low  and  unhealthy,  destitute  of  materials  suitable  for 
building,  and,  notwithstanding  its  good  harbors  and  abun 
dant  rivers,  not  well  fitted  for  permanent  occupation.  He 
determined,  therefore,  to  return  along  the  coast  towards  the 
east  and  fix  the  site  of  his  town  at  some  one  of  the  ports 
which  had  so  attracted  his  attention  both  on  his  first  voyage, 
when  he  was  returning  to  Spain,  and  more  lately  when  bound 
for  Navidad.  His  preference  was  for  the  Puerto  de  Plata, 
near  the  mountain  of  the  same  name,  which  lay  well  towards 
the  eastern  end  of  the  island,  as  access  to  the  mines  of 
Cibao  would  be  easy  from  that  situation,  and  the  harbor 
afforded  the  best  facilities  for  the  establishment  of  a  com 
mercial  city.  The  fleet  accordingly  weighed  anchor  and 
left  Navidad  on  Saturday,  December  yth,  sailing  along  the 
coast  in  the  direction  of  Cape  Cabron.  The  wind  was  con 
trary,  and  they  could  get  no  farther  that  day  than  the  islands 
at  the  mouth  of  Monte  Christi  harbor.  On  Sunday  they 
doubled  the  mountain  itself,  but  met  with  such  violent 
headwinds  that  progress  was  wellnigh  impossible.  "It 
cost  us  more  trouble  to  turn  back  these  thirty  leagues," 
writes  Dr.  Chanca,  "than  to  come  from  Spain."  On  reach 
ing  the  River  of  Thanks  the  weather  was  so  stubbornly 

in 


112        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

unfavorable  that  the  Admiral  ordered  the  fleet  to  put  about 
and  return  to  a  port  three  leagues  back,  whose  situation  and 
features  had  attracted  his  attention.  The  vessels  anchored 
in  a  spacious  bay,  into  which  poured  a  river  of  considerable 
size.  The  land  lay  in  such  fashion  that  shipping  would  be 
sheltered  from  all  winds  save  those  from  the  northwest,  and 
there  was  abundant  depth  of  water.  A  native  village  was 
situated  at  the  river's  mouth,  and  here  the  Admiral  landed 
to  examine  the  neighborhood.  He  found  at  a  short  dis 
tance  from  the  sea  an  admirable  site  for  a  town,  at  the  con 
fluence  of  a  smaller  stream  with  the  river  proper,  where 
there  was  a  fertile  meadow  surrounded  by  the  dense  prime 
val  forest.  The  water  proved  to  be  wholesome  and  fresh;  a 
rocky  bluff,  partly  encircled  by  a  bend  of  the  stream, 
afforded  a  commanding  position  for  a  citadel;  and  the  gen 
eral  level  of  the  land  was  such  that  the  waters  of  the  river 
could  readily  be  diverted  for  filling  a  moat,  irrigating  fields, 
supplying  power  to  mills,  and  other  like  necessary  purposes. 
The  Admiral  was  so  pleased  with  all  he  saw  that  he  decided 
then  and  there,  "  in  the  name  of  the  Holy  Trinity,"  to  locate 
his  colony. 

Orders  were  at  once  given  to  disembark  both  men  and 
horses,  and  right  joyfully  were  they  obeyed.1  Nearly  three 
months  had  passed  since  they  had  left  Cadiz,  and  the  close 
confinement  had  told  severely  on  men  and  beasts.  More 
over,  provisions  had  begun  to  run  short  to  such  an  extent 
that  the  quick  eye  of  Dr.  Chanca  noticed  with  gratification 
that  there  was  abundance  of  excellent  fish  in  the  harbor,— 
"  of  which  we  have  much  need  by  reason  of  the  scarcity  of 
meat,"  he  adds.  A  camp  was  pitched  in  the  meadow,  at 
the  foot  of  the  eminence  mentioned,  and  there,  as  rapidly 
as  they  could  be  unloaded,  the  supplies  and  munitions  were 
brought  from  the  ships.  All  who  were  able  were  willing  to 
bear  a  hand  in  this  work,  if  for  no  other  reason  than  that 
they  were  once  more  treading  on  solid  ground  and  moving 

1  Chanca  says  that  he  landed  on  the  5th  of  January,  "  to  sleep  on 
shore  for  the  first  time."  The  general  disembarkation  might  have 
occurred  a  day  or  two  later;  but  Irving  is  clearly  in  error  in  holding 
that  the  first  Mass  was  held  in  the  church  on  January  6th. 


TAKING  ROOT.  113 

as  freely  as  they  pleased.  Within  a  few  days  the  ships  were 
deserted  by  all  save  a  portion  of  their  crews,  and  the  quiet 
meadow  on  the  river's  bank  had  become  a  swarming  settle 
ment  of  tents  and  leafy  booths. 

Columbus  wished  that  the  first  permanent  colony  founded 
in  the  new  lands  should  bear  the  name  of  the  sovereign 
whom  he  held  in  such  especial  veneration;  hence  he  called 
the  town  which  he  was  now  establishing  Isabella.  He  had 
discovered,  to  his  great  satisfaction,  that  in  the  immediate 
vicinity  were  good  building  stone,  lime,  clay  suitable  for 
brick-making,  and  abundance  of  timber.  Therefore,  as 
soon  as  he  had  become  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  ground, 
and  had  conferred  with  his  officers  as  to  the  best  course  to 
follow,  he  proceeded  to  lay  out  the  town  after  what  seems 
to  have  been  a  systematic  and  intelligent  plan.  On  its 
front  the  site  was  protected  by  the  river;  on  one  flank  a 
ravine  prevented  an  easy  assault  by  enemies;  on  the  other 
and  in  the  rear  the  jungle  was  so  thick  that,  in  the  opinion 
of  one  of  the  settlers,  "  a  coney  could  hardly  squeeze  through 
it,  and  so  green  that  never  in  the  world  could  it  be  set  on 
fire."  With  the  citadel  built  on  the  bluff  hard  by,  the  town 
would  readily  be  defended  in  case  of  a  hostile  attack. 
Within  this  circuit  the  Admiral  laid  off  the  central  plaza, 
so  essential  to  all  Spanish  towns,  from  which  the  streets  ran 
in  designated  directions.  On  these  he  assigned  lots  to  his 
followers,  grouping  the  principal  men  near  the  public 
square  and  apportioning  the  remoter  sections  of  the  town 
to  those  of  less  degree.  Each  man  of  rank  or  quality  was 
directed  to  build  his  own  house  according  to  his  own  views; 
and  most  of  them  promptly  intimated,  on  learning  that  they 
were  expected  to  do  the  work  themselves,  that  timber  and 
palm-leaves  would  be  preferable,  from  their  standpoint,  to 
stone  or  brick.  But  the  Admiral  ordered  the  public  build 
ings  to  be  built  in  a  more  substantial  manner,  of  stone  and 
mortar,  beginning  with  the  immediate  construction  of  a 
warehouse  for  the  provisions,  munitions,  and  stores  of  the 
colony,  and  following  with  a  church  and  hospital,  and  a 
strongly  built  residence  for  himself.  While  a  portion  of 
his  people  were  engaged  on  these  labors,  he  put  the  rest  to 

8 


114        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

work  at  digging  irrigating  ditches,  fortifying  the  bluff, 
erecting  saw  and  grist  mills,  and  planting  the  seeds  or  cut 
tings  of  the  grains,  vegetables,  and  fruits  brought  from  Spain 
and  the  Canary  Islands.  In  short,  foreign  as  such  effort 
then  was  to  the  Spanish  nature,  within  a  week  the  newly 
landed  colony  was  deep  in  all  the  manifold  occupations  of 
founding  a  city  in  a  virgin  wilderness. 

In  the  bustling  activity  of  the  first  few  days,  amid  such 
novel  and  picturesque  surroundings,  even  the  querulous 
held  their  peace  for  the  moment.  Scarcely  an  hour  passed 
without  the  discovery  of  some  supposedly  valuable  product 
of  the  forest  or  field,  and  the  excited  imaginations  of  the 
colonists  already  saw  whole  argosies  laden  for  distant  Spain 
with  the  precious  commodities  of  the  teeming  Indies.  Now 
it  was  the  delicate  fibres  of  vegetable  wool  with  which  huge 
thorny- trunked  trees  were  burdened;  now  the  great  pods 
of  whitest  cotton,  which  bent  the  boughs  of  shrubs  taller 
than  the  tallest  man.  In  one  place  the  trees  produced  a 
wax  which  rivalled  the  choicest  yield  of  the  hive ;  in  another, 
stores  of  turpentine  oozed  from  the  bark,  in  quantity  and 
quality  superior  to  any  the  observers  had  ever  seen.  One 
man  found  what  he  believed  to  be  the  highly  prized  nutmeg; 
another  was  sure  he  had  seen  some  roots  of  ginger;  a  third, 
that  he  had  discovered  gum  tragacanth;  a  fourth,  that  mas 
tic  was  plentiful;  a  fifth,  that  the  true  bark  of  cinnamon 
was  common  in  the  forests.  It  verily  seemed  as  though, 
whatever  else  befell,  the  famous  drugs  and  spices  of  the 
Orient  were  to  be  had  by  the  shipload  for  the  picking.  Nor 
were  the  treasures  confined  to  the  vegetable  world;  for  it 
was  not  long  before  confirmation  was  received  from  native 
sources  of  the  stories  which  the  Admiral  had  heard  con 
cerning  the  abundance  of  gold  in  the  sierras  whose  rugged 
outlines  were  plainly  visible  from  the  site  of  Isabella.  This 
news  tended  still  further  to  raise  the  spirits  of  those  who  had 
seen  in  the  disaster  of  Navidad  a  presage  of  evil  for  the  new 
colony,  and  the  prospect  of  gathering  the  coveted  metal  with 
their  own  hands  inspired  fresh  courage  in  the  breasts  of 
those  who  were  disposed  to  yield  to  the  strange  feeling  of 
lassitude  and  apathy  which  had  already  begun  to  affect  so 


TAKING  ROOT.  115 

many.  For,  despite  the  energy  which  the  Admiral  and 
some  of  his  associates  put  into  the  work  of  building  the 
city,  the  stimulus  which  all  received  as  the  evidences  of 
natural  wealth  were  disclosed  to  their  eager  sight,  and  the 
assurances  of  those  who  were  supposed  to  know,  that  the 
climate  was  more  salubrious  than  that  of  Andalusia,  the  men 
were  drooping  by  the  hundred  under  some  insidious  influ 
ence.  Both  the  Admiral  and  his  fleet  surgeon  noticed  this 
with  an  anxiety  which  they  made  no  effort  to  conceal;  but 
they  hoped  the  evil  would  prove  but  temporary  and  that  the 
change  of  habit  and  the  ampler  liberty  of  life  on  shore  would 
soon  restore  the  ailing.  They  had  as  yet  acquired  no  ex 
perience  to  teach  them  that  in  those  otherwise  favored  lati 
tudes  Nature  exacts  a  rigid  penalty  for  the  scars  men  inflict 
upon  her  smiling  features;  that  every  rod  of  black  soil  the 
Spanish  implements  upturned  would  sooner  or  later  claim 
its  tenant,  and  each  giant  felled  in  the  surrounding  forest 
supply  a  headboard  for  some  grave. 

In  our  day  the  building  of  frontier  towns  and  clearing  of 
virgin  wildernesses,  whether  in  tropical  or  more  temperate 
climes,  has  been  so  constantly  described  and  illustrated  that 
few  are  unfamiliar  with  the  experiences  encountered  by 
those  who  undertake  such  enterprises.  There  is,  however, 
a  freshness  and  vividness  in  the  description  which  Dr. 
Chanca  gives  of  his  life  in  those  first  days  of  the  earliest 
city  founded  in  our  hemisphere  which  is  free,  at  least,  from 
all  imputation  of  being  a  twice-told  tale. 

"  Many  Indians,  both  men  and  women,  are  constantly  coming 
in  here,"  he  writes,  a  few  days  after  the  landing,  "with  their 
caciques,  who  are  their  captains,  as  it  were.  They  are  all  loaded 
down  with  ages,  which  are  a  species  of  turnip,  an  excellent  food, 
of  which  we  make  many  kinds  of  dishes.  It  is  so  strengthening 
a  food  that  it  has  brought  comfort  to  us  all ;  for  in  truth  the  life 
we  led  at  sea  has  been  the  hardest  that  ever  men  passed  through, 
and  it  was  so  of  necessity,  as  we  did  not  know  what  weather 
might  overtake  us  or  how  much  time  God  might  wish  to  keep  us 
on  the  voyage.  Thus  it  was  prudence  to  deny  ourselves ;  so 
that,  whatever  should  befall,  we  might  preserve  our  lives. 

"  These  Indians  exchange  their  gold  and  provisions,  or  what 
ever  else  they  bring,  for  lace-points,  beads,  needles,  and  pieces 


II 6        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

of  crockery  or  plates.  They  call  this  age,  hage,  and  the  Caribs 
call  it  nabi.  All  these  people,  as  I  have  already  said,  go  around 
just  as  they  were  born,  except  the  women,  who  wear  waistcloths 
made  of  cotton,  or  of  grass  and  the  leaves  of  trees.  The  holiday 
attire  of  men  and  women  alike  is  to  paint  themselves ;  some 
black,  others  white  and  red,  in  so  distorted  a  fashion  that  to  see 
them  is  enough  to  make  one  laugh.  They  shave  their  heads  in 
places,  and  in  places  grow  long  locks  in  a  way  it  is  impossible 
to  describe.  In  a  word,  all  that  shall  be  done  yonder  in  Spain 
on  the  head  of  a  lunatic,  these  Indians  out  here  will  heartily 
thank  you  for. 

•'In  this  district  we  are  in  the  vicinity  of  many  mines  of  gold  ; 
for,  according  to  what  the  natives  tell  us,  the  most  distant  are 
not  more  than  twenty  or  twenty-five  leagues  off.  Some  of  them, 
they  say,  are  in  Niti,  in  the  dominions  of  Caonabo,  —  the  same 
who  murdered  the  Christians;  others  are  in  the  country  they 
call  Cibao,  which,  if  it  please  our  Lord,  we  shall  see  and  know 
with  our  own  eyes  before  many  days.  We  should  have  done 
this  already,  indeed,  if  there  were  not  so  many  things  to  do  that 
we  are  not  enough  in  number  to  attend  to  them  all ;  because 
within  these  four  or  five  days  a  third  of  our  people  have  fallen 
ill,  most  of  them,  I  believe,  from  the  toil  and  hardship  of  the 
voyage,  added  to  the  difference  of  climate,  although  I  hope  in 
the  Lord  that  all  will  rise  again  in  health. 

"  It  appears  to  me  that  all  these  natives  could  be  converted 
if  we  had  an  interpreter  for  them,  for  they  do  all  that  they  see  us 
do,  in  kneeling  before  the  altars  and  in  crossing  themselves  at  the 
Ave  Maria  and  other  prayers.  All  of  them  say  that  they  wish 
to  be  Christians,  although  they  are  in  truth  idolaters  ;  for  in  their 
houses  are  images  of  many  kinds.  I  have  asked  them  what 
those  were,  and  they  answer  that  they  are  something  Turey,  which 
means  from  Heaven.  I  pretended  to  wish  to  throw  these  things 
in  the  fire,  and  the  people  were  so  disturbed  that  they  were  ready 
to  cry ;  but  in  the  same  way  they  think  that  all  we  have  is  from 
Heaven,  and  call  it  all  Turey.n 

The  surgeon's  sanguine  anticipations  as  to  the  rapid  re 
covery  of  his  patients  proved  unfounded.  Not  only  were 
many  more  daily  added  to  the  long  sick-roll,  but  those  who 
had  first  fallen  ill  began  to  die  off  at  a  distressing  rate. 
Those  who  were  engaged  in  labors  calling  for  severe  bodily 
exertion,  such  as  dressing  and  carrying  stones,  working 
on  the  walls,  digging  drains,  and  the  like,  were  the  earli- 


TAKING  ROOT.  \\J 

est  victims;  but  the  officials  and  people  of  the  better  sort 
were  soon  affected  almost  to  the  same  extent,  until  the  col 
ony  was  little  more  than  a  huge  hospital.  The  causes  which 
conduced  to  this  depressing  result  are  readily  enough  traced. 
The  long  confinement  on  shipboard,  scanty  rations  both  of 
food  and  water,  exposure  in  a  new  and  trying  climate  with 
out  protection  by  day  or  night,  change  of  diet  and  a  contin 
ued  scarcity  even  of  such  as  they  had,  absence  of  proper 
attention  and  medicines  when  sick,  and  a  hopelessness  born 
of  their  remoteness  from  all  familiar  surroundings,  were 
enough  to  break  down  men  sustained  by  a  firmer  faith  and 
a  loftier  ambition  than  were  possessed  by  the  luckless 
hidalgos,  soldiers,  and  artisans  of  Isabella.  A  gloomy  de 
spondency  seized  upon  the  whole  colony,  due  partly  to  their 
enfeebled  condition  and  partly  to  the  bitter  disappointments 
which  their  exaggerated  expectations  had  necessarily  en 
tailed.  The  catastrophe  at  Navidad  had  produced  an  inerad 
icable  impression  upon  the  light-minded  followers  of  the 
Admiral,  which  had  been  profoundly  augmented  by  the 
inevitable  discovery  that  the  vaunted  treasures  of  the  Indies 
were  to  be  acquired  only  through  the  medium  of  sustained 
and  laborious  effort.  Pursuing  the  one  course  which  true 
wisdom  and  a  loyal  regard  for  the  interests  both  of  his  sov 
ereigns  and  his  companions  permitted,  the  Admiral  adapted 
his  resources  to  what  seemed  likely  to  be  the  requirements 
of  his  situation  for  such  period  as  must  elapse  before  he 
could  receive  assistance  from  Spain.  He  put  all  alike  upon 
a  stated  ration,  from  himself  down  to  the  lowest  laborer. 
He  required  that  all  alike  should  labor  to  place  the  town  in 
a  habitable  and  defensible  condition,  for  he  did  not  propose 
to  have  the  disaster  of  Navidad  repeated.  It  made  no 
difference  whether  the  objector  were  royal  chamberlain, 
bureau  official,  tonsured  priest,  or  fiery  veteran  of  Moorish 
and  Italian  wars;  one  and  all  must  do  something  for  the 
common  good  and  share  a  common  portion.  Such  medi 
cines  as  were  in  stock  were  doled  out  with  careful  hand, 
and  the  small  remnant  of  wine  still  contained  in  Vespucci's 
leaky  butts  was  set  aside  for  the  use  of  the  invalid  and  feeble. 
It  has  never  been  alleged,  either  then  or  since,  by  the 


Il8        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE   ADMIRAL. 

belittlers  of  Columbus  —  and  their  number  has  not  de 
creased  with  time  —  that  he  established  one  course  of  life 
for  his  people  and  another  for  himself;  nor  is  there  any 
reason  to  doubt  that  he  was  entirely  aware  of  the  probable 
consequences  of  the  strict  regimen  and  discipline  he  felt 
it  needful  to  enforce.  None  knew  better  than  he,  from 
harsh  experience,  the  consuming  pride  of  the  Spanish 
nobles,  the  arrogance  of  the  priesthood,  or  the  intractabil 
ity  of  the  roving  adventurers  who  formed  so  large  a  part  of 
his  command.  But  he  knew  equally  well  that  to  yield  to 
their  murmurings  or  be  moved  by  their  criticisms  was  to 
expose  all  who  were  with  him  to  quick  destruction.  If  he 
could  get  his  stores  into  a  place  of  safety,  his  people  under 
shelter,  and  his  town  protected  by  an  adequate  defence,  he 
might  hope  to  worry  through  until  the  newly  planted  fields 
began  to  bear  and  the  second  squadron  of  caravels  prom 
ised  him  by  their  Majesties  should  arrive.  His  anxieties 
on  all  these  scores  were  sufficient,  without  the  additional 
burden  of  bodily  infirmity;  but  this,  too,  was  laid  upon 
him,  and  in  the  midst  of  his  manifold  labors  he  had  to  take 
to  his  bed  with  an  attack  of  the  prevalent  fever.  His  life 
long  habit  of  keeping  the  deck  at  night,  when  in  strange 
seas  or  on  an  unfamiliar  coast,  had  recently  cost  him  dear 
in  the  loss  of  indispensable  rest,  and  the  unintermitted 
activity  and  mental  stress  of  the  busy  days  since  he  first 
saw  the  peaks  of  Dominica,  more  than  two  months  before, 
proved  too  great  a  strain  upon  his  exhausted  frame.  For 
tunately  for  all,  he  was  yet  able  to  direct  the  administra 
tion  of  the  colony's  affairs,  and  after  a  short  confinement 
regained  his  accustomed  energy. 

Next  to  the  alarming  illness  of  most  of  his  people  and 
the  loss  of  so  many,  the  Admiral's  greatest  distress  arose 
from  the  utter  shipwreck  of  all  those  expectations  which 
he  had  built  upon  the  garrison  of  Navidad.  It  was  a 
crushing  blow  to  have  to  report  the  effacement  of  the 
fort  and  the  complete  absence  of  any  signs  of  treasure 
there;  but  it  was  almost  worse  to  have  to  add  that, 
beyond  the  gifts  of  Guacanagari  and  the  paltry  proceeds 
of  bartering  with  the  natives  around  Isabella,  no  gold 


TAKING  ROOT.  119 

had  been  secured  after  two  months  of  stay  on  the  coasts 
of  Hispaniola,  and  no  definite  knowledge  had  been  gained 
of  where  it  "grew."  The  return  of  an  empty  fleet  to 
Spain  with  such  scanty  evidence  of  future  wealth,  and 
reports  so  vague  on  all  points  save  the  unhappy  condition 
of  the  colony  and  the  urgent  need  of  further  outlay,  would, 
the  Admiral  knew  only  too  well,  jeopardize  the  whole 
future  of  the  enterprise  which  was,  to  him,  so  much  more 
than  life  itself.  In  choosing  for  his  future  city  a  situation 
near  the  province  of  Cibao,  he  had,  indeed,  had  in  view 
an  immediate  exploration  of  the  much-extolled  mines  of 
that  mountainous  region,  and  cherished  the  hope  that  even 
before  his  unloaded  ships  returned  to  Spain  he  might  col 
lect  a  considerable  quantity  of  gold;  but  the  sudden  and 
widespread  sickness  of  his  people  frustrated  this  expecta 
tion  and  postponed  to  the  indefinite  future  its  realization. 
Meantime,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  vessels  which  he 
desired  to  retain  for  his  contemplated  voyage  in  search  of 
Terra  Firma  and  the  other  requirements  of  the  colony,  there 
existed  no  cause  for  detaining  longer  in  Hispaniola  the  fleet 
which  he  had  brought  out.  The  cost  of  each  month's  delay 
was  in  itself  a  heavy  item;1  and,  moreover,  he  owed  it  both 
to  his  companions  and  their  Majesties  that  news  of  the 
present  condition  and  future  prospects  of  the  colony  should 
be  laid  before  the  sovereigns  in  time  for  the  prompt  de 
spatch  of  the  supplies  and  additional  men  required.  He 
therefore  directed  the  preparations  to  be  made  for  the 
return  to  Spain  of  twelve  out  of  the  seventeen  ships,  as 
soon  as  the  progress  of  the  buildings  and  defences  should 
permit  their  withdrawal  without  affecting  the  safety  of  the 
settlement.  While  the  necessary  outfitting  and  overhaul 
ing  were  going  on  he  determined  to  make  a  vigorous  effort 
to  obtain  a  reliable  knowledge  of  the  mines  which  were  so 
consistently  reported  by  the  natives  to  lie  in  the  province  of 
Cibao  and  in  Niti,  the  territory  of  Caonabo/  Both  of  these 
regions  were  within  easy  reach  of  Isabella,  and  both  were  re 
puted  to  be  fabulously  rich  in  gold.  The  Admiral  was  still 

1  From  the  accounts  preserved  by  Navarrete,  it  appears   that   the 
fixed  expenses  of  the  colony  amounted  to  about  $75,000  per  month. 


120        THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

firm  in  his  conviction  that  Cibao  was  the  Cipango  of  Marco 
Polo.  The  very  name  of  the  redoubtable  Caonabo  was  said 
to  mean  "Golden  House,"  and  legends  rivalling  the  later 
myths  of  El  Dorado,  the  Gilded  King,  excited  some  feeble 
interest  even  among  the  disanimated  colonists. 

Two  of  the  youngest  commanders  in  the  expedition  were 
chosen  for  this  important  and  perilous  service.  Alonso  de 
Hojeda  was  ordered  to  take  fifteen  men  and  make  a  rapid 
march  into  the  rugged  sierras  of  Cibao,  to  the  westward, 
while  Gorvalan,  a  man  of  much  the  same  spirit,  who  had 
won  distinction  in  the  Moorish  wars,  was  to  push  south 
with  a  similar  party  into  the  still  less  known  region  of  Niti. 
The  two  detachments  left  Isabella  about  the  i2th  of  January 
with  instructions  to  delay  no  longer  than  was  necessary  to 
form  an  intelligent  opinion  of  the  character  of  the  coun 
try,  since  any  prolonged  stay  would  expose  them  to  the 
danger  of  an  attack  by  overwhelming  forces.  On  the  2oth 
of  the  month  Hojeda  returned  with  those  of  his  men  who 
had  remained  with  him,  for  several  had  been  seized  with 
fever  while  on  the  way,  and  had  already  made  their  way 
back  to  the  settlement.  He  reported,  in  a  word,  that  he 
had  reached  Cibao  and  found  gold  everywhere,  both  in  the 
streams  and  on  their  banks;  that  from  more  than  fifty 
ravines  and  creeks  he  had  secured  gold-bearing  sand;  and 
that  wherever  he  had  gone  in  that  province  the  coveted 
metal  was  so  abundant  that  where  a  man  chose  to  seek 
he  should  find  it.  His  journey  had  not  taken  him  more 
than  fifty  or  sixty  miles  from  Isabella,  as  his  progress  had 
been  slow,  at  first,  on  account  of  the  uninhabited  nature  of 
the  country  and  consequent  want  of  guidance,  and,  after 
wards,  because  of  the  embarrassing  hospitality  of  the 
natives.  At  a  distance  of  some  twenty-five  miles  from  the 
colony  he  had  to  cross  a  chain  of  mountains,  and  on  reach 
ing  its  summit  had  found  spread  beneath  his  eyes  the  glori 
ous  Vega  Real,  or  Royal  Plain,  which  stretched  inland  from 
Monte  Christi  and  had  so  charmed  the  Admiral  and  his 
companions  with  its  extent  and  fertility  when  they  had 
anchored  in  that  port,  both  on  this  and  the  previous  voyage. 
Descending  into  the  vast  plain,  Hojeda  found  it  dotted 


TAKING  ROOT,  121 

with  Indian  settlements,  the  inhabitants  of  which  received 
him  and  his  escort  "as  if  they  were  angels,"  and  treated 
them  with  the  frankness  and  liberality  of  brothers.  Once 
across  this  inviting  prairie  country,  the  Spaniards  entered 
the  mountainous  region  of  Cibao  proper.  Here  the  Indians 
vied  with  one  another  in  pointing  out  to  their  visitors  the 
riches  of  the  soil,  picking  out  grains  of  gold  from  the  sand 
of  the  streams  and  scratching  the  surface  of  the  adjoining 
soil  to  show  that  the  metal,  as  it  were,  permeated  the 
ground  in  every  direction.  Supplied  with  a  goodly  quan 
tity  of  gold  both  fine  and  coarse,  and  with  a  nugget  of  nine 
ounces'  weight,  which  he  had  himself  picked  out  of  a  river 
bed,  Hojeda  retraced  his  way  to  Isabella.  In  so  doing 
he  crossed  the  second  time  a  broad  river  winding  through 
the  Vega,  which  the  natives  called  Yaqui.  It  was  not  until 
a  much  later  date  that  the  identity  of  this  with  the  Rio  de 
Oro,  emptying  into  the  bay  at  Monte  Christi,  was  estab 
lished.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  quite  unknown  to  himself  or 
his  command,  Hojeda  had  penetrated  into  the  same  dis 
trict  where,  the  year  before,  Martin  Alonzo  Pinzon  had 
obtained  so  much  gold  and  so  many  Indian  slaves  before 
he  had  been  overtaken  and  called  to  account  by  his 
deserted  Admiral. 

The  news  of  Hojeda's  success,  confirmed  by  the  exhibi 
tion  of  his  glittering  trophies,  did  more  to  rally  the  spirits 
of  the  disheartened  colonists  than  anything  which  could  have 
happened,  short  of  a  return  to  Spain.  The  Admiral,  more 
than  all,  was  gratified  and  encouraged,  not  alone  because  of 
the  corroboration  thus  given  to  the  accounts  so  constantly 
received  from  the  natives  as  to  the  extraordinary  plenty  of 
gold  in  Cibao,  but  also  because  the  Indians  of  that  district 
had  shown  themselves  to  be  peaceable  and  helpful.  Under 
these  conditions,  the  wisdom  of  his  choice  of  a  site  for  the 
new  city  was  amply  demonstrated,  and  he  might  look  for 
ward  with  confidence  to  obtaining,  by  methodical  exertions, 
enough  of  the  precious  metal  to  reimburse  their  Majesties, 
within  a  short  time,  for  all  the  outlays  of  the  expedition, 
and  establish,  once  for  all,  the  value  of  the  Indies,  and 
particularly  of  this  long-sought  Cipango,  to  the  Crown.  His 


122        THE   LAST    VOYAGES    OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

content  was  still  further  augmented  when,  on  the  very  next 
day,  January  2ist,  Gorvalan  returned  from  his  expedition 
into  the  territory  of  Caonabo.  His  report  was  also  of  gold 
found  in  quantity  in  three  or  four  districts,  and  he  produced 
in  turn  his  contributions  to  the  already  important  stock 
of  treasure.  With  this  supplement  to  Hojeda's  story,  the 
Admiral  felt  that  he  might  allay  to  some  degree  the  impa 
tience  and  disappointment  of  his  sovereigns  when  they 
should  learn  of  the  failure  of  his  and  their  sanguine  expec 
tations  concerning  the  men  of  Navidad.  He  accordingly 
redoubled  his  efforts  to  despatch  the  homeward-bound  fleet, 
and  planned,  as  soon  as  it  was  departed,  to  visit  in  person 
the  mines  of  Cibao  and  provide  for  a  systematic  collection 
of  their  riches,  and  the  adequate  defence  of  those  engaged 
in  the  task.  He  wished,  he  says,  to  see  this  natural  treas 
ure-house  with  his  own  eyes,  and  give,  to  all  the  others  who, 
like  so  many  St.  Thomases,  should  see  and  touch  it,  cause 
to  believe  in  its  reality.  No  large  number  of  his  followers, 
apparently,  required  such  material  demonstration,  if  we 
may  accept  the  confidence  of  Dr.  Chanca  as  representative; 
for  the  mere  sight  of  the  heavy  yellow  grains  and  nuggets 
had  revived,  at  least  momentarily,  in  the  most  despondent, 
some  portion  of  the  hopes  which  had  beaten  so  high  when 
they  first  came  in  sight  of  the  Haytian  mountains.  "Their 
Majesties,  our  sovereigns,"  reports  the  surgeon,  apropos  of 
Hojeda  and  Gorvalan,  "may  assuredly  from  henceforth  call 
themselves  the  richest  and  most  prosperous  princes  of  the 
world,  for  never  before  has  any  one  seen  or  heard  of  such  a 
thing;  for  beyond  question  when  the  ships  return  here  on 
their  next  voyage  they  may  carry  back  with  them  so  great 
a  quantity  of  gold  that  whoever  knows  of  it  will  be  aston 
ished." 

During  the  remaining  days  of  the  month  the  Admiral 
busied  himself  with  the  present  requirements  of  the  colony 
and  with  preparing  his  despatches,  reports,  and  recom 
mendations  for  his  royal  patrons.  Looking  with  some 
anxiety  at  the  freedom  with  which  the  natives  came  and 
went  in  his  infant  town,  and  realizing  how  exposed  it  would 
be  in  the  event  of  any  combined  attempt  to  destroy  it,  he 


TAKING  ROOT. 


123 


devoted  particular  attention  to  the  completion  of  the  stone 
fortress  and  storehouses.  In  anticipation  of  his  proposed 
expedition  into  Cibao,  he  set  a  force  to  work  opening  com 
munication  in  that  direction,  at  least  for  a  short  distance 
out  of  Isabella,  where  there  were  several  streams  to  cross. 
He  took  some  comfort  from  the  fact  that  his  people  began 
to  show  a  slight  improvement  in  health,  and  he  caused  those 
who  seemed  least  disposed  to  rally  to  be  set  apart  for  return 
to  Spain  on  the  fleet.  From  his  officers  and  lieutenants 
he  sought  to  learn  all  that  they  thought  the  future  welfare  of 
the  colony  demanded,  and  incorporated  their  views  with  his 
own  in  drawing  up  his  reports  to  the  King  and  Queen.  He 
detached  from  his  service  some  of  those  whose  presence  at 
the  Court  he  thought  would  tend  to  a  better  comprehension 
of  the  situation  and  prospects  of  his  colony,  and  encouraged 
all  those  who  so  desired  to  send  home  their  own  accounts 
of  their  experiences.  So  great  was  his  confidence  that  the 
recent  gloom  would  be  followed  by  exultation,  as  the  result 
of  bringing  the  treasures  of  Cibao  into  active  exploitation, 
and  that  the  opening  up  of  the  mainland  of  Asia  with  all  its 
vast  opulence  would  be  the  early  sequel  of  the  pacific  sub 
jugation  of  Hispaniola,  that  he  made  no  attempt  either  on 
his  own  or  his  companions'  account  to  suppress  or  distort 
the  exact  truth.  It  was  not  needful  to  do  so,  in  his  opin 
ion.  The  difficulties,  distress,  and  disappointments  of  the 
past  month  or  six  weeks  were  distinctly  traceable  to  rank 
disobedience  of  his  orders  and  defiance  of  his  delegated 
authority.  Had  the  garrison  of  Navidad  followed  his  injunc 
tions,  there  would  have  been  treasure  to  remit  home,  a  mass 
of  information  collected  concerning  the  country  and  its 
people,  and  relations  of  confidence  and  profit  established 
with  all  the  native  tribes.  That  none  of  these  things  had 
been  done  was  not  due  to  his  remissness,  and  he  saw  no 
reason  for  concealment. 

The  five  vessels  which  he  proposed  to  retain  at  Isabella 
were  the  "Gallega,"  the  "Maria  Galante,"  and  three  cara 
vels, —  the  historic  "Nina,"  the  "San  Juan,"  and  the  "Cor- 
dera."  This  squadron  he  destined  partly  for  the  defence  of 
the  colony,  in  the  emergency  of  any  Portuguese  force  unex- 


124        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF  THE  ADMIRAL. 

pectedly  appearing,  partly  for  a  means  of  reaching  Spain, 
should  occasion  arise,  and  partly  for  the  investigation  he 
proposed  making  as  to  whether  Cuba  were  an  island  or  the 
mainland  of  Asia.  The  remaining  twelve  ships  he  put  under 
the  command  of  Antonio  de  Torres  for  the  return  voyage. 
On  these  were  shipped  the  Carib  prisoners,  both  men  and 
women,  and  some  other  Indians;  such  quantity  of  gums, 
barks,  woods,  cotton,  and  other  valuable  commodities  as  it 
had  been  possible  to  gather;  specimens  of  the  native  foods, 
—  maize,  ages,  peppers,  and  the  like;  the  birds  and  animals 
which  offered  the  greatest  contrast  with  those  of  Europe; 
and,  finally,  a  collection  of  the  weapons,  implements,  and 
ornaments  used  by  the  various  tribes  of  Hispaniola  and  the 
Caribbees.1  The  presents  of  golden  masks  and  native  gold 
received  from  Guacanagari  and  in  barter  with  the  natives 
were  to  be  sent  to  their  Majesties  by  the  hand  of  Torres  him 
self,  as  was  also  the  gold  collected  by  Hojeda  and  Gorvalan. 
With  these  ships  a  large  number  of  men  returned  to  Spain; 
exactly  how  many  is  not  stated,  but  it  would  appear  that 
there  must  have  been  quite  500.  Among  them  were  some 
of  the  better  sort  who  had  been  invalided,  and  we  note,  with 
a  certain  amusement,  that  the  valorous  Don  Melchior  Mal- 
donado  had  already  acquired  all  the  Indian  experience  he 
cared  for  and  took  advantage  of  their  Majesties'  permission 
to  return  to  Spain  by  the  first  conveyance.  Prior  to  the 
sailing  of  the  fleet  the  Admiral,  on  January  29111,  held  a 
muster  of  such  of  his  force  as  were  able  to  appear  for  duty. 
To  judge  by  what  he  says  in  his  report  to  their  Majesties,  it 
was  a  sorry  lot  of  men  and  beasts  who  faced  their  commander 
on  the  savannah  at  Isabella.  The  greater  part  of  his  forces 
was  suffering  in  some  degree  from  the  malarial  fever  which 
was  so  prevalent,  and  even  the  soldiers  who  had  enjoyed  a 
change  of  air  and  scene  with  Hojeda  and  Gorvalan,  had 
fallen  victims  to  the  insidious  malady.  Notwithstanding 
this,  a  better  spirit  prevailed  among  most  of  the  people,  due 

1  Dr.  Chanca  observed  that  the  Indians  around  Isabella  "  possess 
many  implements,  such  as  hatchets  and  adzes,  made  of  stone,  so  neat 
and  well  fashioned  that  it  is  astonishing  how  they  could  be  made 
without  iron." 


TAKING  ROOT.  125 

in  part  to  the  fact  that  the  fever  had  assumed  a  less  violent 
form,  and  deaths  from  it  were  now  comparatively  rare,  and 
in  part  to  the  renewal  of  ambition  resulting  from  the  bril 
liant  expectations  of  gain  held  out  by  the  expeditions  into 
Cibao  and  Niti.  Under  the  circumstances  the  Admiral  felt 
disposed  to  take  a  hopeful  view  of  his  situation,  and  to  look 
upon  the  crisis  of  his  enterprise  as  being  successfully  passed. 
The  homeward-bound  fleet  got  under  weigh  on  Sunday, 
the  2nd  of  February,  passing  out  of  the  harbor  of  Isabella 
and  steering  an  easterly  course  for  Cape  Enamorado,  or 
Cabron,  as  we  now  call  it.  It  was  the  Admiral's  expecta 
tion  that,  if  ships  had  not  already  sailed  from  Cadiz  before 
Torres' s  arrival,  they  would  be  despatched  immediately 
thereafter;  so  that  not  later  than  May  or  June  the  colonists 
might  hope  to  welcome  new  friends  and  receive  fresh  and 
ample  supplies. 


VII. 

THE   VICEROY'S   FIRST   REPORT. 

/~~*OLUMBUS  gave  to  Antonio  de  Torres,  who  com- 
\_s  manded  the  returning  fleet,  a  bundle  of  despatches 
which  were  to  be  delivered  into  their  Majesties' 
own  hands.  Torres  took  also,  with  his  commander's 
knowledge  and  assent,  the  letters  written  by  Fray  Bo'il, 
the  treasurer  Villacorta,  and  such  other  officials  as  felt 
themselves  authorized  to  address  the  King  and  Queen 
directly.  The  packet  with  which  he  was  charged  by  the 
Admiral  contained  a  report  of  the  outward  voyage  and 
the  occurrences  at  Navidad,  several  lists  of  supplies  and 
materials  urgently  required  by  the  colony,  some  letters 
recounting  "  all  that  has  been  done  here  since  our  arrival, 
and  this  in  very  great  detail  and  at  much  length,"  other 
letters  of  recommendation  and  information,  a  confidential 
account  of  certain  insubordinate  conduct  on  the  part  of 
Bernal  de  Pisa  and  some  colonists  who  abetted  him,  and, 
chief  of  all,  that  "Memorial"  which  has  furnished  the 
Admiral's  censors  with  so  much  material  for  their  vehement 
denunciations.  None  of  these  documents  have  come  down 
to  us  in  their  entirety  except  the  last  named.  From  the 
replies  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  and  scattered  references 
in  the  pages  of  Navarrete,  Las  Casas,  Bernaldez,  and  others, 
we  can  reconstruct  the  contents  of  the  others  to  some  ex 
tent;  but  the  "Memorial"  is  the  one  which  has  reached  us 
intact,  and  as  such  it  has  served  as  the  text  for  a  criticism 
of  Columbus  as  sweeping  as  it  is  intemperate  and,  we 
believe,  unjust. 
126 


THE    VICEROY'S  FIRST  REPORT.  I2/ 

It  is  not  fair  to  judge  a  man,  be  he  living  to-day  or 
dust  for  four  centuries,  by  paraphrase  and  summary.  It  is 
still  less  reasonable  to  condemn  him  upon  one  clause 
picked  out  of  a  long  document,  written  in  the  hurry  and 
distraction  of  such  surroundings  as  those  which  encom 
passed  Columbus  when  he  penned  the  paper  to  which  we 
refer.  Without  inflicting  upon  our  readers  those  portions 
which  concern  matters  of  routine,  salaries  to  officials,  dis 
cussion  of  details  of  equipment,  and  so  on,  we  propose  to 
lay  before  them,  in  the  Admiral's  own  words,  the  essential 
parts  of  this  first  report  from  an  American  settlement.  By 
so  doing  we  hope  to  enable  them  to  see  somewhat  of  the 
workings  of  its  author's  mind,  that  they  may  be  in  a  posi 
tion  to  bestow  censure,  or  withhold  it,  in  accordance  with  the 
facts  as  they  stand  recorded.  Nothing  that  we  can  write 
will  convey  so  graphically  the  situation  of  Columbus  and 
the  motives  which  were  guiding  his  conduct  as  this  ex 
tremely  unpolished  state  paper.  It  is  dated  the  3oth  of 
January,  the  day  after  the  Admiral  reviewed  his  feeble 
array,  and  begins  thus :  — 

"  That  which  you,  Antonio  de  Torres,  captain  of  the  ship 
'Maria  Galante  '  and  Mayor  of  the  City  of  Isabella,  are  to 
say  to  and  ask  from  the  King  and  Queen,  our  sovereigns, 
on  my  behalf,  is  the  following:  "  First  of  all  Torres  was 
directed  to  kiss  the  royal  feet  and  hands  and  present  to 
their  Majesties  the  Admiral's  humble  duty,  with  such  ex 
pressions  of  devotion  as  he,  Torres,  knew  to  be  in  con 
sonance  with  his  leader's  life  and  sentiments.  Then, 
notwithstanding  the  extended  letters  which  Fray  Boi'l,  the 
treasurer,  and  the  Admiral  himself  were  forwarding  by  the 
same  hands,  Torres  was  to 

"  Say  to  their  Highnesses,  as  from  me,  that  it  has  pleased  God 
to  grant  me  such  favor  in  their  service  that  thus  far  neither  have 
I  found  [here],  nor  has  there  been  otherwise  found,  in  any 
respect,  anything  less  than  what  I  wrote,  said,  and  affirmed  to 
their  Majesties  in  the  past ;  rather  by  God's  grace  do  I  believe 
that  even  much  more  will  plainly  and  very  quickly  appear  from 
the  results.  In  the  matter  of  spices,  merely,  on  the  borders  of 
the  sea,  without  having  gone  far  inland,  such  indications  and 


128        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE   ADMIRAL, 

beginnings  are  found  as  to  warrant  the  hope  of  a  far  better 
conclusion.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  mines  of  gold ;  for 
although  only  two  of  our  men  set  out  to  explore,  each  one 
following  his  own  path  and  not  delaying  because  each  had  few 
companions,  so  many  rivers  have  been  discovered  so  abounding 
in  gold  that  all  those  who  saw  and  gathered  it  —  merely  with  their 
hands,  as  a  sample  —  returned  so  overjoyed  and  relate  such  tales 
of  its  profusion  that  I  have  some  hesitation  in  saying  and  writing 
them  to  your  Majesties." 

One  of  these  explorers,  Gorvalan,  he  adds,  accompanies 
Torres  "to  tell  what  he  saw"; l  the  other,  Hojeda,  remains 
with  the  colony,  "although  beyond  all  doubt  and  com 
parison  he  discovered  far  more,  according  to  the  note  of 
the  rivers  which  he  brought  back,  in  each  of  which  he  says 
there  is  more  gold  than  can  be  believed."  Wherefore,  the 
Admiral  adds,  their  Majesties  "may  give  thanks  to  God, 
since  all  their  affairs  are  progressing  thus  favorably." 

"  You  are  also  to  say  to  their  Majesties,"  he  continues, 
"  although  it  has  already  been  written,  that  I  greatly  desired  to 
be  able  to  send  them  by  this  fleet  a  greater  quantity  of  the  gold 
which  we  expect  to  gather  here,  if  most  of  our  people  who  are 
here  had  not  suddenly  fallen  ill.  But  this  I  have  not  been  able 
to  do,  as  the  fleet  cannot  longer  remain  here,  both  because  of  the 
heavy  cost  it  entails  and  because  the  season  is  favorable  for  it  to 
go  to  Spain  and  for  the  return  of  the  ships  which  are  to  bring  us 
the  supplies  so  badly  needed ;  for  if  those  which  are  to  come 
back  should  defer  setting  sail  they  would  not  be  able  to  reach 
here  by  May.  Moreover,  if  I  should  undertake  to  visit  the  mines 
or  rivers  now  with  such  of  my  people  as  are  well,  both  on  the 
ships  in  the  harbor  and  in  the  town  on  shore,  there  would  be 
many  difficulties  and  even  perils,  for  they  are  distant  about 
twenty  or  twenty-five  leagues  from  here,  with  many  mountain 
passes  and  rivers  to  cross,  and  in  order  to  provide  for  the  long 
journey  and  for  remaining  there  long  enough  to  collect  the  gold, 
it  would  be  necessary  to  carry  a  large  supply  of  provisions. 
These  could  not  be  taken  on  our  men's  backs,  and  there  are  no 
animals  which  could  serve  for  the  purpose,  nor  are  the  roads 
and  paths  adapted  to  such  work,  although  a  beginning  has  been 
made  towards  making  them  passable.  It  was  also  a  great  imped- 

1  Las  Casas  affirms,  however,  that  Gorvalan  finally  did  not  go  with 
Torres,  and  quotes  a  later  letter  of  Columbus  as  his  authority. 


THE    VICEROY'S  FIRST  REPORT.  129 

iment  that  our  sick,  as  well  as  the  provisions  and  supplies  which 
are  landed,  should  be  left  in  cabins  in  an  undefended  situation, 
for  although  these  Indians  have  shown  themselves  towards  the 
explorers  and  each  day  show  themselves  here  to  be  very  harm 
less  and  free  from  evil,  it  nevertheless  did  not  seem  to  be  the 
part  of  prudence,  since  they  daily  come  among  us,  to  expose  our 
sick  people  and  supplies  to  the  risk  and  chance  of  destruction. 
A  single  Indian  with  an  ember  might  bring  this  about,  by  setting 
fire  to  the  huts,  for  they  are  coming  and  going  by  day  and  night, 
and  for  this  reason  we  have  guards  about  the  neighborhood  as 
long  as  the  settlement  is  open  and  defenceless. 

"  Furthermore,"  the  Admiral  wrote,  continuing  his  reasons  for 
not  sending  more  gold  to  Spain  at  this  time,  "  as  we  have  seen 
that  most  of  those  who  went  exploring  into  the  interior  fell  sick 
upon  their  return,  —  and  some  even  had  to  come  back  while 
upon  the  road,  —  there  was  also  ground  for  fearing  that  the  same 
would  befall  those  of  our  well  people  who  should  now  set  out. 
From  this  two  dangers  would  arise ;  first,  that  our  men  should 
be  ill  there,  where  there  is  no  shelter  and  no  protection  whatever 
from  that  cacique  they  call  Caonabo,  —  who  is,  according  to  all 
accounts,  a  very  bad  man  and  the  boldest  of  them  all,  —  who, 
seeing  us  thus  disabled  and  feeble,  might  be  able  to  attempt  that 
which  he  would  not  dare  if  we  were  sound.  The  same  cause 
gives  rise  to  the  second  difficulty,  that  of  bringing  here  the  gold 
which  we  secured ;  for  either  we  should  have  to  take  little  and 
go  backward  and  forward  each  day,  and  thus  expose  ourselves  to 
the  risk  of  sickness,  or  we  should  have  to  send  with  it  part  of 
our  force,  with  the  same  danger  of  loss. 

"Therefore,  you  are  to  say  to  their  Highnesses  that  these 
are  the  reasons  why  the  fleet  has  not  been  detained  at  this  time, 
and  why  no  gold  is  sent  except  the  samples.  However,  putting 
our  faith  in  God,  who  through  all  and  in  all  has  guided  us  thus 
far,  these  people  will  soon  recover,  as  they  already  begin  to,  for 
the  climate  is  merely  trying  them  with  certain  agues,  and  they 
quickly  get  about.  It  is  evident  that  if  they  had  a  little  fresh 
meat  to  aid  their  convalescence  they  would  all  very  soon  be 
afoot,  with  God's  help,  and  indeed  most  of  them  would  be  re 
established  by  now;  notwithstanding  which  lack  they  will  in 
good  season  recover.  The  few  healthy  men  who  are  left  busy 
themselves  each  day  in  enclosing  the  town  and  putting  it  and 
the  supplies  in  some  sort  of  security,  which  will  be  accomplished 
in  a  short  time,  since  nothing  is  required  except  barricades,  for 
the  Indians  are  not  the  kind  of  people  to  attack  us  unless  they 
should  find  us  asleep,  even  if  they  should  think  of  such  a  thing. 

9 


130        THE  LAST    VOYAGES    OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

Thus  they  did  to  the  others  who  remained  here  [at  Navidad], 
by  reason  of  their  carelessness  ;  for,  however  few  our  men  were 
and  how  much  soever  occasion  they  gave  the  Indians  to  have 
and  to  do  all  they  did,  they  would  never  have  dared  to  attempt 
injuring  our  people  if  they  had  seen  the  latter  to  be  on  their 
guard.  As  soon  as  this  work  is  completed  we  shall  arrange  to 
go  to  the  above-mentioned  rivers  ;  either  taking  the  road  from 
here  and  seeking  the  best  means  available,  or  coasting  by  sea 
along  the  island  to  that  place  which,  they  say,  is  not  more  than 
six  or  seven  leagues  distant  from  the  rivers.  In  this  manner  we 
shall  be  able  to  collect  the  gold  in  safety  and  place  it  under  the 
protection  of  some  fort  or  tower  which  shall  be  built  there  at 
once,  so  that  it  will  be  gathered  by  the  time  the  two  caravels 
return  hither  and  shipped  in  security  at  the  first  opportunity 
which  offers  to  make  the  voyage  home. 

"  You  are  also  to  say  to  their  Highnesses,  as  has  before  been 
said,  that  the  cause  of  the  sickness,  so  general  among  all  here, 
is  the  change  of  water  and  air,  for  we  observe  that  all  are  affected 
in  turn,  but  few  dangerously.  For  this  reason  the  preservation 
of  their  health,  next  to  God,  lies  in  their  having  the  food  to 
which  they  were  used  in  Spain,  for  neither  by  these  men  nor  by 
those  men  who  may  arrive  in  the  future  can  their  Majesties  be 
served,  if  they  be  not  sound.  Such  provision  must  continue 
until  that  which  has  been  sown  and  planted  here  shall  bear  seed  ; 
for  example,  wheat,  barley,  and  vines,  with  which  thus  far  in  the 
present  year  little  has  been  done,  because  we  could  not  sooner 
settle  down,  and  as  soon  as  we  did  so  the  few  laborers  who  were 
with  us  fell  sick.  Even  had  they  remained  well  they  had  so  few 
beasts,  and  those  so  weak  and  lean,  that  they  could  have  helped 
but  little.  Notwithstanding,  some  sowing  has  been  done,  rather 
to  test  the  ground,  which  seems  to  be  astonishingly  fertile,  than 
because  any  assistance  was  expected  therefrom  for  our  needs. 
We  are  well  assured,  as  the  result  will  show,  that  in  this  country 
both  wheat  and  wine  will  be  readily  produced,  but  we  must 
await  their  yield,  which,  if  it  is  equal  to  what  the  rapid  growth 
of  wheat  indicates,  from  a  very  few  seeds  which  were  planted, 
certainly  will  not  cause  either  Andalusia  or  Sicily  to  be  missed 
here.  So  it  is  with  sugar-cane,  judging  from  the  manner  in 
which  a  few  cuttings  which  were  planted  have  grown  ;  for  beyond 
question  the  quality  of  the  land  in  these  islands  is  such,  whether 
in  the  mountains,  sierras,  and  streams,  or  in  the  plains  with  their 
copious  rivers,  that  no  other  country  which  the  sun  warms  can 
be  better  in  appearance  or  more  beautiful." 


THE    VICEROY'S  FIRST  REPORT.  131 

The  Admiral  then  instructs  Torres  as  to  the  complaint 
he  is  to  make  concerning  the  careless  work  of  the  Seville 
coopers,  whereby  the  greater  part  of  the  wine  —  so  essen 
tial  to  the  life  of  all  classes  of  people  in  Southern  Europe 
—  was  wasted  on  the  voyage,  and  also  refers  to  the  poor 
quality  of  the  salted  meats  furnished  the  fleet.  'He  charges 
his  messenger  to  see  that  an  abundance  of  these  articles,  as 
well  as  biscuit  and  wheat,  are  provided;  "  for  the  way  is  long 
and  a  supply  cannot  every  day  be  obtained."  "There  is 
need,"  he  adds,  "of  sheep,  or,  what  is  better,  lambs, — 
more  ewes  than  rams, —  and  also  some  calves  and  heifers, 
which  may  come  in  any  caravel  that  is  sent  here,  and  also 
some  asses,  male  and  female,  and  mares  for  work  and  breed 
ing;  for  here  are  none  of  these  animals  which  a  man  can 
use  or  avail  himself  of."  With  a  prudence  born  of  long 
waiting  upon  the  dilatory  methods  of  the  Court,  he  provides 
for  the  purchase  of  all  these  needed  supplies  out  of  the  gold 
he  forwards  by  Torres.  The  latter  is  to  deposit  it,  if  nec 
essary,  in  pledge  with  some  merchant  of  Seville  and  with 
the  advances  thus  secured  make  the  payments  direct,  "  be 
cause  I  fear,"  writes  the  Admiral,  "  that  their  Majesties  may 
not  be  in  Seville  and  neither  their  officers  nor  ministers  be 
willing  to  make  the  necessary  provision,  without  express 
authorization,  for  what  it  is  necessary  should  come  by  the 
first  conveyance;  so  that  in  the  asking  and  receiving  of 
instructions  the  time  should  pass  for  the  sailing  of  those 
ships  which  should  reach  here  in  the  month  of  May." 
Mindful  of  the  welfare  of  his  colony,  and  conscious  of  the 
hardships  awaiting  them  and  the  embarrassments  sure  to 
accrue  to  himself  during  the  three  or  four  months  of  short 
rations  and  isolation  which  must  elapse  before  other  vessels 
arrive  from  Spain,  he  reiterates  that  "  it  is  desirable  that 
everything  possible  be  done  to  have  the  caravels  return 
some  time  in  the  month  of  May,  so  that  our  people  before 
entering  upon  the  summer  season  may  see  and  have  some 
benefit  from  these  things,  and  especially  on  account  of  their 
sickness.  Of  some  of  them  we  already  have  great  want, 
such  as  raisins,  sugar,  almonds,  molasses,  and  rice,  of  which 
a  great  quantity  should  have  come,  but  in  fact  only  a  little 


132        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF  THE  ADMIRAL. 

came,  and  that  which  was  brought  is  already  used  and  con 
sumed,  as  well  as  most  of  the  medicines,  by  reason  of  the 
large  number  of  sick."  Torres  was  furnished  with  complete 
lists  of  everything  required,  "  as  well  for  the  sound  as  for 
the  sick,"  and  was  to  send  out  by  the  first  ships  as  much  as 
he  could  procure  money  for,  sending  the  rest  later  on,  as  he 
should  arrange  with  their  Majesties. 

Thus  far  in  this  famous  Memorial  we  fail  to  see  cause  for 
criticism  or  censure.  We  are  told,  by  the  latest  and  ablest 
of  his  censors,  that,  upon  the  return  of  Hojeda,  "there  was 
now  material  to  give  spirit  to  the  despatch  to  his  sovereigns, 
and  Columbus  sat  down  to  write  it."  As  a  matter  of  fact 
the  Memorial  was,  as  we  have  seen,  a  memorandum  ad 
dressed  to  Torres,  not  to  their  Majesties,  and  was  to  be 
followed  by  him  in  making  his  report  to  them;  it  was  only 
one  of  many  documents  forwarded  by  the  Admiral  to  the 
King  and  Queen;  it  was  not  written  until  January  3oth, 
whereas  Hojeda  returned  on  the  20th  and  Gorvalan  on  the 
2ist;  there  was  no  lack  of  material  for  a  "spirited  de 
spatch  "  before  their  arrival,  and  no  particular  motive  for 
extraordinary  epistolary  exertion  thereafter;  it  covered  all 
sorts  and  kinds  of  affairs,  in  the  treatment  of  many  of 
which  it  was  anything  rather  than  "spirited";  and  of  the 
515  lines  which  it  contains,  as  it  "is  printed  in  Navarrete's 
collection,"  to  quote  the  brilliant  censor  again,  just  35 
are  occupied  with  any  reference,  however  remote,  to  the 
explorations  which  are  alleged  to  have  been  its  inspiring 
motive. 

Columbus  did  dwell  with  sanguine  enthusiasm  upon  the 
prospects  of  a  golden  revenue  from  the  rivers  and  mines  of 
Cibao,  but  it  was  because  he  knew  this  to  be  the  matter  of 
the  most  immediate  moment  to  his  royal  master  and  mis 
tress,  as  it  was  to  himself;  for  he  was  keenly  impressed  with 
the  burdensome  charge  of  his  expedition  upon  the  coffers 
of  the  Crown  and  equally  alive  to  the  disappointment  which 
was  sure  to  result  from  the  complete  collapse  of  all  the 
expectations  concerning  the  treasures  supposed  to  be  wait 
ing  his  arrival  at  Navidad.  The  future  more  than  justified 
even  his  hopeful  view  of  the  mineral  resources  of  Hispani- 


THE    VICEROY'S  FIRST  REPORT.  133 

ola,  and  in  assuring  his  sovereigns  of  large  and,  as  he 
believed,  immediate  returns  from  this,  their  first  colony, 
he  was  performing  his  plain  official  duty.  There  was  no 
lack  of  other  witnesses  than  Torres  and  Gorvalan  on  the 
returning  ships  to  contradict  their  statements  should  they 
attempt  to  romance,  and  no  want  of  correspondence  other 
than  that  of  the  Admiral  to  disprove  his  assertions,  should 
they  be  unfounded  or  untrue.  For  the  rest,  so  far  as  our 
feeble  lights  enable  us  to  discern,  the  paper  thus  far  quoted 
indicates  that  its  author  was  a  prudent  and  humane  com 
mander,  an  energetic  and  courageous  leader,  and  a  loyal 
servant  to  the  Crown.  Situated  as  he  was,  confronted  by 
unexpected  disaster  at  the  very  outset  of  his  undertaking, 
forced  to  change  abruptly  all  his  plans  in  order  to  meet 
the  altered  conditions  consequent  upon  the  destruction  of 
the  pioneer  settlement  which  he  had  founded  at  Navidad, 
and  aware  of  the  great  expectations  nourished  in  Spain  con 
cerning  this  returning  fleet,  the  instructions  given  to  Torres 
seem  to  us  to  be  reasonable  and  wise.  If,  instead  of  com 
ing  from  the  hand  of  Christopher  Columbus,  this  Memorial 
were  the  work  of  the  chief  of  some  colonizing  and  exploring 
expedition  in  the  Congo  Basin  or  East  Africa,  it  would  be 
read  with  sympathetic  interest  and  appreciation.  In  what 
respect  has  this  dead  and  gone  forerunner  of  civilization's 
later  heroes  forfeited  his  title  to  a  like  consideration?  The 
next  clauses  of  his  Memorial  supply,  perhaps,  an  answer, 
even  if  an  insufficient  one;  for  they  have  furnished  the  text 
for  most  of  the  angry  and  contemptuous  strictures  with 
which  it  is  now  becoming  the  fashion  to  atone  for  the  four 
centuries  of  admiration  lavished  by  a  deluded  humanity 
upon  an  unworthy  object. 

"Item.  You  are  to  say  to  their  Highnesses,"  proceeded  the 
Admiral,  "that  because  there  is  here  no  interpreter  through 
whom  our  holy  faith  can  be  made  intelligible  to  these  natives,  as 
their  Highnesses  desire  and  as  do  we  who  are  here,  —  and  we 
shall  labor  in  this  as  much  as  is  possible,  —  by  these  ships  are 
now  being  sent  some  of  the  Cannibals,  men,  women,  boys,  and 
girls,  whom  their  Majesties  can  direct  to  be  placed  in  charge  of 
persons  with  whom  they  can  best  learn  our  language.  They 


134   THE  LAS?  VOYAGES  OF  THE  ADMIRAL. 

should  be  exercised  in  matters  of  utility,  and  little  by  little  orders 
be  given  that  somewhat  more  care  be  taken  with  them  than  with 
other  slaves,  so  that  some  of  them  may  learn  from  the  others, 
not  seeing  or  speaking  with  each  other  until  much  later  on,  for 
so  they  will  learn  more  quickly  there  than  here  and  be  better 
interpreters,  although  we  shall  not  cease  to  do  here  what  is 
possible  as  well.  It  is  true  that,  as  among  these  people  those 
of  one  island  have  little  intercourse  with  those  of  another,  there 
is  some  difference  of  dialects,  according  as  they  may  be  nearer 
or  more  remote ;  and  because,  of  all  the  islands,  those  of  the 
Cannibals  are  very  large  and  well  peopled,  it  will  cause  here  only 
a  good  impression  to  take  some  of  their  men  and  women  and 
send  them  to  Spain,  so  that  once  and  for  all  they  should  be 
cured  of  that  unnatural  custom  which  they  have  of  eating  human 
flesh,  and,  learning  the  language  in  Spain,  receive  Baptism  much 
sooner  and  gain  the  profit  to  their  souls.  Even  among  such  of 
these  people  who  have  not  the  same  customs  great  credit  would 
be  secured  by  ourselves,  when  they  see  us  seizing  and  imprison 
ing  those  from  whom  they  were  accustomed  to  suffer  harm,  and 
of  whom  they  have  such  fear  that  they  are  frightened  by  a  single 
man.  You  may  also  assure  their  Highnesses  that  the  arrival  and 
sight  of  this  fleet,  thus  assembled  and  imposing,  in  this  country 
has  given  much  influence  to  the  colony  and  greater  security  for 
the  future ;  for  all  the  people  of  this  huge  island  and  of  the 
others,  observing  the  kind  treatment  which  will  be  shown  to 
the  well-disposed  and  the  punishment  which  will  be  done  to  the 
evil,  will  promptly  reach  a  condition  of  obedience  so  that  they 
may  be  governed  as  vassals  of  their  Highnesses.  Even  now, 
wherever  one  of  our  men  may  be,  they  not  only  do  whatever  he 
wishes,  but  of  their  own  free  will  endeavor  to  do  all  that  they 
think  would  give  us  pleasure.  Their  Highnesses  may  also  rest 
satisfied  that  not  less  in  Europe,  among  Christian  princes,  the 
coming  of  this  fleet  will  have  given  them  a  great  fame  for  many 
reasons,  which  their  Highnesses  will  be  better  able  to  imagine 
and  understand  than  I  know  how  to  say. 

"Item.  You  are  also  to  say  to  their  Highnesses  that  the 
welfare  of  the  souls  of  the  said  Cannibals  and  also  of  the  natives 
of  this  place  has  suggested  the  thought  that  the  more  who 
should  be  carried  to  Spain  the  better  it  would  be,  and  thereby 
their  Highnesses  be  served  in  the  following  manner:  That  in 
view  of  how  great  is  the  need  of  cattle  and  beasts  of  burden  for 
the  maintenance  of  the  people  who  are  to  be  here,  and  for  the 
good  of  all  these  islands,  their  Highnesses  can  give  license  and 
authority  to  a  sufficient  number  of  caravels  to  come  out  here 


THE    VICEROY'S  FIRST  REPORT.  135 

each  year  and  bring  the  said  cattle  and  other  supplies  and  arti 
cles  for  peopling  the  country  and  improving  the  land,  and  this 
at  reasonable  prices  and  for  account  of  the  people  who  should 
bring  them.  These  commodities  could  be  paid  for  in  slaves  from 
among  these  Cannibals  ;  a  people  haughty  and  froward,  well  built 
and  of  a  very  good  understanding,  who,  being  weaned  from  that 
inhuman  habit,  we  believe  will  be  better  than  any  other  slaves, 
and  that  habit  they  will  soon  lose  as  soon  as  they  are  away  from 
their  own  country.  Many  of  these  men  can  be  secured  with  the 
galleys  which  the  people  here  know  how  to  make,  it  being  under 
stood  that  their  Highnesses  should  place  a  person  of  their  confi 
dence  on  each  of  the  caravels  which  may  come  out,  who  shall 
prevent  the  caravels  from  making  a  landing  at  any  other  part  of 
the  island  except  here,  where  the  lading  and  unlading  of  all  the 
merchandise  should  be  effected.  Of  these  slaves  also  which 
should  be  brought,  their  Highnesses  could  receive  their  propor 
tion  in  Spain. 

"  On  this  point  you  are  to  bring  or  send  an  answer,  so  that 
the  needful  preparations  may  be  made  with  the  greater  assurance, 
if  to  their  Highnesses  it  should  seem  well." 

Having  made,  quite  as  a  matter  of  course,  this  sugges 
tion  for  relieving  their  Majesties'  depleted  treasury  of 
some  part  of  the  heavy  expenses  entailed  by  his  enterprise, 
the  Admiral  recommends  that  in  the  future  the  caravels 
sent  out  to  the  Indies  be  chartered  by  the  ton,  after  the 
Flemish  style,  rather  than  by  the  clumsy  one  of  a  monthly 
rental.  He  then  announces  that  he  has  decided  to  pur 
chase  and  retain  at  Isabella  two  of  the  carracks,  and  three 
of  the  caravels.  He  has  been  moved  to  do  this,  he  adds, 
because  "these  ships  will  not  only  give  authority  and 
security  to  the  people  who  have  to  go  inland  to  arrange 
with  the  Indians  for  collecting  the  gold,  but  also  in  the 
event  of  any  other  danger  which  might  arise  from  foreign 
nations;  besides  this,  the  caravels  are  necessary  for  dis 
covering  the  mainland  and  the  other  islands  which  lie 
between  here  [Hispaniola]  and  there  [Spain]."  The  allu 
sion  to  foreigners  indicates  that  he  either  still  felt  some 
apprehension  lest  the  Portuguese  might  follow  him  into 
these  remote  seas,  or  that  he  was  thinking  of  the  great 
ships  of  the  merchant  princes  of  which  he  fancied  his  in- 


136        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

terpreters  had  told  him  as  he  sailed  along  the  coasts  of 
Cuba  the  year  before. 

"Item,"  continues  the  Memorial.  "You  are  to  say  to  their 
Highnesses  and  entreat  them  on  my  behalf  in  the  most  humble 
manner  possible,  that  they  may  be  pleased  to  attend  especially 
to  that  which  they  shall  learn  more  minutely,  from  the  letters 
and  documents,  affects  the  peace  and  quiet  and  concord  of  those 
who  remain  here ;  that  for  the  affairs  of  their  Majesties1  service 
they  choose  such  persons  that  they  need  have  no  fear  concerning 
them,  who  will  regard  rather  the  purpose  for  which  they  are  sent 
than  their  individual  interests.  As  to  this  matter,  since  you 
have  seen  and  know  everything,  you  are  to  speak  and  say  to 
their  Majesties  the  truth  of  all  things  as  you  have  understood  it, 
and  see  that  the  course  which  they  may  direct  to  be  taken  is 
communicated  by  the  first  vessels,  if  possible,  so  that  no  scandal 
may  occur  here  in  a  matter  which  so  nearly  concerns  the  good  of 
their  Majesties1  service.11 

This  plain  reference  to  Bernal  de  Pisa  and  his  fellow 
malcontents  indicates  the  extent  of  discord  which  had 
already  arisen  between  the  Admiral  and  some  of  the  Crown 
officials,  and  the  serious  consequences  which,  in  his  opin 
ion,  would  result  from  its  continuance.  Later  on  we  shall 
see  the  King  and  Queen  promising  to  make  amends  for  the 
heedlessness  with  which  some  of  their  appointments  were 
made;  meantime,  their  Viceroy  surely  cannot  be  accused 
of  a  lack  either  of  energy  or  frankness  in  his  efforts  to  free 
his  government  from  this  fruitful  source  of  evil. 

The  clauses  which  immediately  follow  are  devoted  to  the 
commendation  of  deserving  officers.  Torres  as  alcayde,  or 
mayor,  of  Isabella  was  to  describe  its  situation  to  their 
Majesties  and  the  beauty  of  the  surrounding  country,  and 
to  ask  their  confirmation  of  the  appointment  bestowed  upon 
him  by  the  Admiral  in  partial  recognition  of  faithful  ser 
vice.  He  was  also  to  recommend  to  the  consideration  of 
the  sovereigns  Pedro  Margarite,  Caspar,  and  Beltran,  as 
deserving  some  special  reward,  and  was  particularly  to  say 
how  Juan  Aguado,  the  Queen's  protege^  had  "well  and 
diligently  served  in  all  that  he  was  ordered  to  do."  It 
would  have  been  better  for  the  Admiral  had  both  his  com- 


THE    VICEROY'S  FIRST  REPORT.  137 

mendations  and  their  subjects,  so  far  as  these  men  were 
concerned,  gone  to  the  bottom  of  the  Atlantic.  Torres 
was  also  to  inform  their  Majesties  "the  task  which  Dr. 
Chanca  has  had  with  the  care  of  so  many  sick  and  the  lack 
of  supplies,  and  how,  notwithstanding  all,  he  has  borne 
himself  with  exemplary  diligence  and  self-sacrifice  in  all 
that  relates  to  his  duties";  in  recognition  of  which  the 
Admiral  suggested  that  the  Doctor  be  allowed  such  special 
gratuities  as  were  usually  granted  to  army  surgeons  in 
active  campaigning.  Two  other  officers,  Coronel  and  the 
lawyer  Gil  Garcia,  are  also  mentioned  with  approbation 
and  a  fitting  reward  asked  for  them. 

Then  the  Admiral  reverts  to  the  all-absorbing  question 
of  revenue. 

"  Item.  You  are  to  say  to  their  Highnesses  (although  I  have 
already  written  it  in  the  letters)  that  I  do  not  believe  it  will  be 
possible  to  undertake  any  voyage  of  discovery  this  year,  until 
this  business  of  the  golden  rivers  which  have  been  found  is  pro 
vided  for,  as  the  advantage  of  their  Majesties1  service  demands. 
This  done,  the  voyage  can  be  much  better  made  ;  for  it  is  not  an 
affair  which  without  my  presence  can  be  attended  to  by  any  one 
else  to  my  liking  or  to  their  Majesties1  benefit,  however  well  it 
may  be  done ;  as  all  is  doubtful  except  what  a  man  attends  to 
himself.1' 

Torres  is  next  to  explain  the  deception  practised  in  the 
exchange  of  horses  at  Seville,  and  lay  the  responsibility 
for  the  same  at  Soria's  door.  Then  he  is  to  show  that 
more  than  200  men  had  hidden  themselves  on  the  vessels 
and  made  the  voyage  without  any  provision  for  their  pay 
or  maintenance,  and  to  ask  that  they  be  allowed  to  take 
the  places  of  those  regularly  enrolled  who  had  returned  or 
been  incapacitated.  In  the  Admiral's  opinion  at  least 
1000  men  should  constitute  the  effective  strength  of  the 
colony  for  the  first  three  years ;  of  these  it  would  be  well 
to  have  100  mounted,  but  this  would  be  expensive  and 
could  wait  until  the  gold  sent  to  their  Majesties  should 
provide  ample  means. 

Following  this  is  a  suggestion  which,  although  it  comes 
from  "  the  man  who  was  so  anxious  to  become  the  first  slave- 


138        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

driver  in  America,"  sounds  strangely  like  the  deliverances 
of  the  intelligent  head  of  an  industrial  colony. 

"  Item.  Inasmuch  as  the  cost  of  this  colony  may  be  to  some 
extent  lightened  by  industry  and  the  methods  practised  by  other 
princes  under  similar  conditions,  more  easily  than  it  can  be  cur 
tailed  here,  it  seems  well  that,  besides  the  commodities  intended 
for  general  consumption  and  medicinal  stores,  the  ships  should 
bring  out  shoes,  and  hides  for  making  them,  shirts  both  common 
and  fine,  jackets,  linen,  skirts,  trousers,  cloths  for  clothing  of  a 
reasonable  price,  and  other  things,  such  as  preserves,  which  are 
outside  the  usual  rations  and  helpful  for  the  maintenance  of 
health.  All  these  things  will  be  gladly  accepted  by  the  people 
here  on  account  of  their  wages,  and  if  the  purchases  be  made 
in  Spain  by  faithful  officers  who  consider  only  their  Majesties' 
service,  some  advantage  may  be  derived.1' 

If  Columbus  proposed  that  slaves  should  work,  he  did  not 
intend  that  his  own  people  should  stand  by  in  idleness. 

Torres  is  next  instructed  to  bring  to  their  Majesties'  atten 
tion  the  trickeries  practised  by  the  men-at-arms,  in  exchang 
ing  their  good  arms  for  poor*  ones,  and  to  ask  that  two 
hundred  cuirasses,  one  hundred  guns,  and  one  hundred 
cross-bows,  with  their  corresponding  ammunition,  be  sent 
out.  He  is  also  charged  so  to  adjust  the  salaries  of  some 
of  the  officers  that  their  families  should  receive  a  part  in 
Spain.  The  succeeding  clause  is  devoted  to  providing  for 
the  physical  comfort  of  the  colonists. 

"It  would  be  very  well,"  the  Admiral  writes,  "  that  fifty  hogs 
heads  of  molasses  be  procured  from  the  island  of  Madeira,  for 
it  is  the  best  and  healthiest  nourishment  in  the  world  and  does 
not  usually  cost  more  than  two  ducats  the  hogshead,  exclusive 
of  the  casks,  and  if  their  Highnesses  order  some  caravel  to  pass 
by  there  on  the  outward  voyage  this  purchase  can  be  made,  as 
also  ten  boxes  of  sugar,  of  which  there  is  much  need.  This  is 
the  best  season  of  the  year  —  that  is,  between  now  and  April  — 
for  finding  it  and  getting  it  at  a  fair  price." 

A  final  reference  to  the  prospects  of  securing  a  revenue 
follows. 

"  Item.  You  are  to  say  to  their  Majesties  that,  although 
these  rivers  contain  the  quantity  of  gold  which  those  who  have 


THE    VICEROY'S  FIRST  REPORT.  139 

seen  them  allege,  it  is  certain  that  the  gold  is  not  generated  in 
the  rivers  but  in  the  earth,  and  that  the  water  coming  in  contact 
with  the  mines  brings  down  the  metal  mingled  with  its  sands. 
Although  some  of  these  rivers  which  have  been  discovered  are 
quite  large,  others  are  so  small  that  they  are  rather  brooks  than 
rivers,  which  do  not  carry  more  than  two  fingers'*  depth  of  water 
and  can  be  easily  traced  to  their  fountain-head ;  so  that  it  will 
not  only  be  profitable  for  the  washers  to  gather  the  gold  from 
the  sands  but  also  for  others  to  dig  for  it  in  the  earth,  where  it 
will  be  more  especially  found  in  larger  quantity.  For  this  reason 
it  will  be  well  for  their  Majesties  to  send  out  some  washers, 
from  among  those  who  work  in  the  mines  of  Almaden,  so  that 
in  one  manner  and  the  other  the  work  may  proceed.  Mean 
while  we  shall  not  wait  for  them,  for  with  the  washers  who  are 
now  here  we  hope,  with  God's  aid,  once  the  people  are  well,  to 
obtain  a  handsome  contribution  of  gold  for  the  next  caravels 
which  shall  sail." 

In  the  succeeding  paragraph  the  royal  treasurer,  Villa- 
corta,  is  recommended  for  promotion,  and  Torres  told  to 
see  that  this  be  done  "  in  such  a  way  that  Villacorta  shall 
know  by  the  result  that  what  he  has  done  for  me  in  that 
which  I  required  from  him  has  brought  him  advantage." 
A  final  clause  reverts  to  Margarite,  Caspar,  and  Beltran, 
and  the  other  captains  of  caravels  who  remained  at  Isabella 
and  who  by  the  return  of  their  vessels  were  left  without 
stated  compensation.  "  You  are  to  request  their  Highnesses 
on  my  behalf  to  fix  that  which  these  men  are  to  receive  in 
each  year  or  by  the  month,  as  their  Majesties  may  see  fit. 
Done  in  this  city  of  Isabella  the  3oth  day  of  January,  1494." 
So  ends  the  Memorial. 

At  the  risk  of  wearying  our  readers  we  have  translated, 
as  closely  as  the  rude  and  involved  sentences  of  the  original 
permitted,  all  that  is  of  interest  in  this  historic  document. 
It  exhibits  with  photographic  fidelity  the  mind  of  its  author 
as  he  sat  amid  the  confusion  of  his  growing  town,  with  dis 
appointment  and  disaster  behind  him  and  a  doubtful  future 
to  face.  Primarily  intended,  as  we  have  seen,  for  the 
guidance  of  Torres,  it  was  to  be  left  (and  was  so  left)  with 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella  as  a  memorandum  or  summary  of 
the  several  matters  discussed  at  greater  length  in  other  letters 


140        THE  LAST    VOYAGES    OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

and  despatches.  No  attempt  was  made  to  deceive  the  sov 
ereigns,  for  no  deception  was  possible;  and  no  effort  was 
made  to  make  of  it  a  forcible  and  elegant  document,  for  it 
professed  to  be  nothing  but  a  string  of  isolated  notes,  jotted 
down  as  the  subjects  presented  themselves  to  the  writer's 
thoughts.  Such  as  it  was  we  have  given  it. 

Slavery  is  as  much  of  an  anachronism  to-day  as  are  the 
wheel  and  the  rack.  Neither  eloquence  nor  logic  is  longer 
necessary  to  prove  the  right  of  every  human  being  to  that 
liberty  with  which  Nature  endows  him.  We  of  the  United 
States  have  peculiar  cause  to  appreciate  both  the  iniquity  of 
the  institution  and  the  fact  that  a  sincere  belief  in  its  justi 
fiability  is  not  incompatible  with  moral  integrity.  Our  his 
tory  is  that  of  a  people  who,  from  their  establishment  on 
American  soil,  tolerated  slavery  as  frankly  as  they  did  free 
dom  of  speech  and  religion.  To  its  inherently  vile  methods 
we  owe  no  small  part  of  our  national  grandeur.  When  we 
sit  in  judgment,  therefore,  on  others  who  thought  as  our 
own  people  thought  until  yesterday,  and  who  had  the  suffi 
cient  excuse  that  they  lived  four  centuries  before  the  days 
of  Garrison  and  Sumner,  it  behooves  us  to  show  some  slight 
moderation.  Sir  Arthur  Helps  only  states  the  truth  when 
he  says,  in  his  oft-quoted  passage,  that  "a  more  distinct 
suggestion  for  the  establishment  of  a  slave  trade  was  never 
proposed  "  than  that  which  Columbus  makes  to  his  sover 
eigns  in  this  Memorial.  It  was  meant  to  be  distinct,  for  it 
was  a  deliberate  suggestion  submitted  by  their  Viceroy  to 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella  for  their  royal  consideration  and 
decision.  Every  historian,  from  Las  Casas  to  the  present 
day,  is  justified  in  exclaiming  against  the  iniquity  of  slavery 
as  such.  But  in  saying  that,  after  penning  the  words  which 
we  have  above  translated,  "  the  man  who  was  ambitious  to 
become  the  first  slave  driver  of  the  New  World  laid  down  his 
quill  praising  God,  as  he  asked  his  sovereigns  to  do,"  the 
more  modern  and  learned  critic  who  thus  emphatically  vents 
his  righteous  indignation  is  attempting  a  tour  deforce,  in  his 
anxiety  to  carry  his  readers  with  him,  scarcely  less  violent 
than  that  advocated  by  the  subject  of  his  criticism.  Colum 
bus  no  more  cherished  such  an  ambition  than  did  those  God- 


THE    VICEROY'S  FIRST  REPORT.  141 

fearing  and  stalwart  Puritans  who,  one  hundred  and  fifty 
years  later,  so  willingly  converted  into  household  slaves  the 
unregenerate  Narragansetts  and  Nipmucks  who  fell  into 
their  hands  as  the  prize  of  an  unequal  war.  We  are  informed 
that  this  is  special  pleading,  that  "  therein  rests  the  pitiful 
plea  for  Columbus,  the  originator  of  American  slavery." 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  Columbus  was  not  the  originator  of 
American  slavery,  or  of  any  other.  He  found  the  vicious 
system  as  flourishing  in  the  New  World  as  he  had  left  it  in 
the  Old.  In  opening  communication  between  the  two,  he 
provided  a  means  for  exchanging  the  merchandise  of  one 
for  the  slaves  of  the  other,  as  well  as  beads  for  cotton,  or 
hawk-bells  for  gold-dust.  He  considered  the  cannibals  to 
be  enemies  of  humanity  at  large,  assignable  to  the  same 
category  as  heretics,  Jews,  or  Moors.  As  such  they  were 
subject  to  extermination  or  captivity,  as  their  Christian 
adversaries  might  determine. 

The  whole  proceeding  was,  to  him,  regular,  even  com 
mendable,  so  far  as  its  morality  was  concerned;  for  the  cap 
tives  would  be  proselytized  and  enter  the  Church's  fold.  In 
this  respect  Columbus  did  not  rise  above  the  accepted 
dogmas  of  his  age;  in  others  he  did.  He  was  great  in  so 
far  as  he  led  his  times,  but  he  was  not  little  in  being  other 
wise  a  part  of  them.  To  heap  anathemas  at  this  late  day 
upon  his  head  because,  four  centuries  ago,  he  did  not  carry 
on  an  anti-slavery  crusade  as  well  as  one  against  ignorance 
and  bigotry,  seems  to  be  rather  hypercritical  than  just.1 

1  In  support  of  his  vehement  arraignment  of  Columbus  as  a  slave- 
driver,  Dr.  Winsor  ( Christopher  Columbus}  lays  particular  stress  upon 
a  quotation  from  Benzoni.  The  choice  is  scarcely  a  happy  one;  (ist) 
because  Benzoni  did  not  visit  the  Indies  until  sixty  years  after  the  days 
of  Columbus;  (2d)  because  Benzoni,  in  the  passage  quoted,  was  writ 
ing  of  Guatemala  in  1560  circa,  and  not  of  Hispaniola  in  1493;  (3d) 
because  we  have  the  learned  critic's  own  authority,  in  another  place, 
for  saying  that  Benzoni  "  yielded  not  a  little  to  credulity  and  picked 
up  mere  gossip,"  and  that  his  discontent  with  the  Spaniards  "  colored 
somewhat  his  views."  It  is  only  fair  to  add  that  Benzoni  was  an  ardent 
and  somewhat  undiscriminating  admirer  of  his  fellow-countryman, 
and  had  no  thought  of  criticising  him  in  the  words  thus  misapplied  by 
the  modern  historian. 


VIII. 

THE    BEGINNING   OF   CONQUEST. 

ALL  that  the  departure  of  the  "Mayflower,"  homeward 
bound,  was  to  the  sturdy  Puritans,  the  sailing  of 
Torres  and  his  twelve  ships  was  to  the  colony  at  Isabella, 
and  more.  In  that  case  there  was  a  sustaining  trust  and 
purpose,  with  a  confidence  that  in  due  time  other  com 
munication  would  be  had  with  home;  in  the  case  of  the 
Spaniards,  their  leader  excepted,  there  was  little  sentiment 
loftier  than  the  love  of  adventure,  while  the  wide  Ocean 
Sea  was  as  yet  so  little  known  that  there  was  no  lack  of 
prophets  to  predict  that  those  who  remained  behind  had 
seen  the  last  of  their  countrymen  from  its  farther  shores. 
To  their  sense  of  isolation  was  added  a  feeling  of  abandon 
ment,  and  to  this  a  haunting  fear  lest  they  should  perish 
vilely  in  the  obscure  corner  of  an  unknown  world  whither 
their  chimerical  ambitions  had  so  rashly  led  them.  No 
sooner  did  they  realize,  therefore,  that  they  had  seen  the 
last  of  the  vessels,  from  whose  crowded  hulls  they  had  so 
eagerly  escaped  a  month  before,  than  some  of  the  more  in 
fluential  among  their  number  began  planning  to  seize  some 
of  the  five  ships  which  the  Admiral  had  retained,  desert  the 
colony,  and  make  their  way  to  Spain,  where,  as  they  believed, 
they  could  satisfy  the  King  and  Queen  that  the  Italian  ad 
venturer  whom  they  had  appointed  Viceroy  over  their  loyal 
Castilian  subjects  was  in  reality  a  base  deceiver  and  reck 
less  fabricator  of  wild  romances. 

Situated  as  the  colonists  were,  the  spirit  of  mutiny  was 
infectious.     The  Admiral's  contemplated  expedition  into 
142 


THE   BEGINNING    OF  CONQUEST.  143 

the  golden  district  of  Cibao  would  furnish  the  opportunity; 
the  pitiful  condition  of  the  large  number  of  fever-stricken, 
labor-worn  invalids  who  must  perforce  be  left  behind,  the 
excuse.  The  plot  found  an  able  head  in  Bernal  de  Pisa, 
royal  comptroller,  whose  official  standing  at  Court  was 
known  to  be  such  that  it  lent  a  coloring  of  authority  to  his 
actions  even  when  these  were  obviously  illegal.  He  was 
assisted  by  other  influential  malcontents,  among  whom  the 
royal  assayer  was  perhaps  most  helpful.  This  scientific 
expert  was  willing  to  certify,  from  the  abundance  of  his 
knowledge,  that  the  golden  nuggets  of  Hojeda  and  Gorva- 
lan  were  the  inherited  treasure  of  several  generations  of 
natives,  melted  down  into  lumps;  and  that  when  these  had 
once  been  collected  nothing  remained  for  the  Spaniards 
except  the  insignificant  products  from  a  laborious  sifting 
of  tiny  grains  from  the  river-beds.  With  this  material  and 
such  other  as  his  own  craft  supplied,  Pisa  quietly  secured 
from  many  of  the  bitterest  opponents  of  the  Admiral  and 
his  projects  a  declaration  or  statement  reflecting  unspar 
ingly  upon  the  actions,  plans,  and  methods  of  Columbus. 
This  document,  which  seems  to  have  been  drawn  up  in 
proper  notarial  form  for  timely  presentation  to  their 
Majesties,  was  hidden  away  on  board  one  of  the  ships  in 
the  hollow  of  a  rude  buoy,  such  as  was  used  for  marking 
the  position  of  a  slipped  cable.  Whether  by  accident,  or 
through  that  common  treachery  upon  which  every  one  else 
seems  to  count  for  the  disclosure  of  a  plot  except  those 
most  interested  in  it,  the  Admiral,  while  yet  busy  with  the 
preparations  for  his  march,  learned  of  the  progress  of 
Pisa's  schemes.  To  seize  the  ringleaders  and  institute  a 
formal  inquiry  into  their  guilt  was  the  work  of  an  hour. 
The  comptroller,  despite  his  rank  and  influence,  was  con 
fined  on  one  of  the  ships  to  await  a  convenient  occasion 
for  sending  him  to  Spain.  The  more  prominent  among  the 
followers  were  punished  according  to  their  quality,  while 
the  very  affidavits  which  were  prepared  by  Pisa  to  secure 
the  Admiral's  overthrow  were  kept  by  the  latter  to  be  for 
warded  to  his  sovereigns  as  evidence  of  their  comptroller's 
disloyalty.  The  revolt,  if  such  it  may  be  called,  was 


144        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIX  A  L. 

crushed  out  with  a  promptness  which  merits  sincere  ap 
plause,  but  with  a  generosity  toward  the  guilty  as  unwise 
as  it  was  natural  to  the  Admiral's  disposition.  Both  those 
who  had  been  detected  and  those  who  had  escaped  incrim- 
ination  in  the  conspiracy  united,  at  the  first  opportunity, 
in  clamoring  to  their  Majesties  for  relief  from  the  rigor 
and  injustice  of  the  discipline  inflicted  by  Columbus. 
No  doubt  he  expected  as  much,  and  only  withheld  his  hand 
from  an  unwillingness  to  mete  out  severer  punishment  upon 
Spanish  nobles,  being  himself  so  constantly  contemned  for 
his  foreign  origin  and  jejune  dignities.  He  could  have 
been  no  more  severely  criticised,  however,  had  he  chastised 
the  conspirators  as  they  deserved,  and  an  exhibition  of  un 
bending  determination  would  have  commanded  at  least  the 
respect  of  fear.  As  it  was,  sore  as  were  the  hearts  of  the 
ringleaders  and  the  backs  of  their  followers,  the  first  were 
still  beating  and  latter  quickly  cured;  and  the  owners  of 
both  lived  long  enough  to  more  than  square  accounts  with 
their  too-long-suffering  commander. 

Impatient  to  start  upon  his  journey  to  Cibao,  and  doubt 
ful  of  the  loyalty  of  many  of  those  whose  physical  condition 
or  official  charges  required  that  they  should  remain  at  Isa 
bella,  the  Admiral  preferred  to  place  his  trust,  while  absent, 
in  the  hardy  seamen  who  manned  his  flagship,  and  thus  effect 
ually  to  remove  all  source  of  danger.  He  therefore  trans 
ferred  from  the  four  other  vessels  to  the  "Maria  Galante  " 
their  artillery,  ammunition,  sails,  and  running  tackle,  and 
left  that  ship  as  well  as  those  he  had  dismantled  in  charge 
of  officers  on  whom  he  could  rely.  This  done,  he  set  dili 
gently  about  completing  his  arrangements  for  the  proposed 
reconnoissance.  The  government  of  Isabella  was  left  in 
the  hands  of  Diego  Columbus,  with  an  advisory  council 
consisting  of  Fray  Boil  and  others  in  whom  the  Admiral  yet 
had  confidence.  All  the  men-at-arms,  whether  mounted  or 
infantry,  who  seemed  capable  of  standing  the  campaign 
were  ordered  to  make  ready,  and  to  them  were  joined  such 
of  the  carpenters,  masons,  miners,  and  other  laborers  as 
were  strong  enough  to  work.  A  force  of  natives  was  em 
ployed  to  carry  the  tools  and  provisions,  for  as  yet  the 


THE  BEGINNING    OF  CONQUEST.  145 

Spaniards  had  not  learned  to  live  on  the  food  of  the  coun 
try.  As  his  Memorial  intimates,  it  was  not  the  Admiral's 
intention  to  cut  loose  absolutely  from  Isabella  as  a  base, 
since  he  felt  the  necessity  of  keeping  within  relieving  dis 
tance  of  the  town  on  account  of  the  enfeebled  condition 
of  its  defenders.  At  the  same  time,  he  wished  to  develop 
as  large  a  knowledge  as  possible  of  the  country  beyond  the 
Cibao  mountains  and  establish  at  desirable  points  one  or 
more  fortified  posts  for  the  greater  security  both  of  those 
who  should  work  the  mines  and  of  the  necessary  travel 
between  these  and  Isabella. 

Columbus  set  out  from  the  town  at  the  head  of  his  little 
army  on  Wednesday,  the  i2th  of  March,  with  trumpets 
sounding  and  ensigns  unfurled.  The  occasion  was  one  of 
rejoicing  for  the  men  composing  his  force,  but  for  those 
who  remained  behind  invalided  or  detained  by  duty  his 
departure  only  added  a  fresh  cause  of  misgiving  or  dissatis 
faction.  The  certainty  of  novelty  and  adventure  awaiting 
their  more  fortunate  companions  only  increased  their  own 
captious  discontent,  and  it  was  with  no  little  apprehension 
that  their  leader  began  his  march.  The  column  made  but 
ten  miles  on  that  day,  as  neither  men  nor  horses  were  in 
condition  to  bear  great  fatigue.  As  soon  as  they  struck  the 
forest,  all  attempt  at  martial  array  was  abandoned,  and  they 
followed  the  narrow  Indian  trails  in  such  disorder  as  they 
found  most  convenient.  Camp  was  pitched  at  the  foot  of 
a  steep  and  rugged  pass,  leading  over  the  range  of  moun 
tains  which  divided  the  valley  where  Isabella  lay  from  the 
vast  plain  traversed  by  Hojeda  and  christened  the  Vega  Real 
by  Columbus.  This  narrow  path  over  the  pass,  for  a  dis 
tance  of  a  couple  of  bow-shots  from  its  summit,  was  so 
abrupt  that  the  horses  could  not  attempt  to  scale  it;  so  the 
Admiral  called  upon  some  of  the  more  spirited  of  the  well 
born  soldiers  who  surrounded  him  to  open  a  way  for  the 
column.  They  seem  gladly  to  have  carried  out  his  orders, 
despite  the  hard  manual  labor  involved;  for  by  night  a  fea 
sible  road  had  been  cleared  to  the  top  of  the  divide.  In 
recognition  of  their  service, —  perhaps,  with  a  glance  of 
irony  at  the  affectation  of  their  caste  never  to  work  with 

10 


146        THE   LAST    VOYAGES    OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

their  hands, —  their  commander  named  the  gap  "the  Gen 
tlemen's  Pass,"  and  as  such  it  was  known  for  generations. 
On  the  next  morning  the  march  was  resumed,  and  the 
Admiral  soon  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  spread  beneath 
his  feet  the  whole  extent  of  the  great  savannah.  As  far  as 
the  eye  could  range  stretched  the  emerald  floor,  dotted  at 
frequent  intervals  with  belts  of  woodland  and  watered  by 
serpentine  rivers.  From  the  number  of  native  villages  seen 
near  at  hand,  and  from  the  columns  of  smoke  arising  in  the 
distance,  it  was  evidently  inhabited  by  a  considerable  pop 
ulation.  On  its  farther  side  rose  the  massive  outlines  of 
the  rocky  sierras  of  Cibao,  the  promised  land  of  the  Admi 
ral's  dreams  and  hopes.  Whether,  as  he  gazed  across  the 
smiling  prairies  of  the  Vega  to  the  purple  summits  of  the 
distant  mountains,  he  still  held  the  belief  that  he  was  face 
to  face  with  the  mysterious  Cipango  of  Marco  Polo's  allur 
ing  tales,  that  ever-receding  land  of  gold  and  precious  stones 
which  had  so  eluded  his  anxious  search  during  the  last  year's 
voyage,  he  does  not  tell  us.  Had  he  still  held  the  theory, 
it  is  probable  some  mention  should  have  remained.  What 
ever  his  conjectures,  as  he  swept  the  landscape  with  his 
watchful  glances,  one  salient  consideration  was  patent  to 
his  mind :  access  to  the  boasted  wealth  of  Cibao  was  easy 
from  Isabella  and  the  people  living  on  the  route  were  rather 
of  the  mild  type  of  Guacanagari's  tribesmen  than  the  fiery 
warriors  of  Samana  Bay. 

The  descent  to  the  plain  was  much  more  gradual  than  the 
ascent  of  the  Gentlemen's  Pass  just  accomplished.  Light 
of  heart  and  cheered  by  the  prospect  of  fertile  lands  and 
accessible  mines,  the  Spaniards  debouched  on  the  level 
ground  with  a  gaiety  to  which  they  had  been  strangers  since 
the  echoes  of  their  lombards  rolled  unanswered  into  the 
darkness  of  Navidad.  As  they  approached  the  first  native 
village,  the  Indians  swarmed  forth  to  meet  them  with  demon 
strations  of  joyous  welcome  and  reverent  admiration,  hail 
ing  their  marvellous  visitors  as  celestial  beings  and  pressing 
upon  them  all  the  contents  of  their  scanty  hoards.  A  like 
scene  was  enacted  at  each  succeeding  settlement,  until  even 
the  most  contentious  sceptic  in  the  Castilian  ranks  was 


THE   BEGINNING    OF  CONQUEST.  147 

forced  to  admit  that,  after  all,  there  was  some  truth  in  the 
stories  told  concerning  the  natives  of  Hispaniola  by  their 
leader  and  his  companions  of  the  Discovery.  Progress  was 
so  easy  and  their  surroundings  so  agreeable  after  the  dark 
days  at  Isabella  that  the  men  did  not  count  their  paces.  They 
had  already  marched  more  than  fifteen  miles,  when,  towards 
evening,  they  reached  the  banks  of  a  broad  stream  of  clear 
water,  which  the  Indians  called  the  Yaqui,  but  which  the 
Admiral  named  the  River  of  Rushes,  from  the  great  beds  of 
these  growing  along  its  borders.  Here  he  camped  for  the 
night,  vastly  to  the  delight  of  his  men,  who  showed  the 
improvement  in  their  spirits  and  health  by  betaking  them 
selves  to  the  water  and  skylarking  therein  to  their  hearts' 
content.  Breaking  camp  early  on  the  following  day,  the 
i4th,  the  men  crossed  the  river,  they  and  their  impedimenta 
being  transported  on  canoes  and  rafts  supplied  by  the  willing 
natives;  the  horses  were  brought  over  a  deep  ford  near  by. 
For  five  miles  the  pleasurable  experiences  of  the  preceding 
day  were  repeated,  the  route  lying  along  the  Yaqui  and  then 
away  from  it,  until  the  column  came  to  a  halt  by  the  banks 
of  a  smaller  but  unfordable  stream.  Some  difficulty  was 
met  with  in  getting  across  this,  probably  on  account  of  the 
absence  of  boats;  but  the  trouble  was  more  than  compen 
sated  by  the  discovery  among  the  river  gravel  of  several 
grains  of  gold.  This,  and  the  increasing  nearness  of  the 
Cibao  mountains,  was  enough,  in  the  Admiral's  opinion,  to 
entitle  the  stream  to  be  called  the  Golden.  At  a  short  dis 
tance  beyond  it  the  Spaniards  came  upon  a  large  village, 
whose  people  seemed  to  be  divided  as  to  the  reception  to 
be  accorded  the  intruders.  Some  of  them  fled  incontinently 
towards  the  foot-hills,  which  there  ran  down  into  the  plain; 
others  took  refuge  in  their  cabins  and,  once  inside,  deemed 
themselves  secure  from  all  molestation  if  they  placed  a  few 
light  canes  across  their  doorways.  The  soldiers  were  dis 
posed  to  make  light  of  this  Edenic  simplicity,  but  the 
Admiral  forbade  that  any  Christian  should  enter  a  hut,  and 
thus,  with  the  aid  of  signs  and  proffered  gew-gaws,  soon 
placated  the  villagers  and  established  relations  of  greater 
confidence.  Beyond  this  settlement  the  country  became 


148        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

broken  and  more  wooded,  and  when  another  stream  was 
reached  during  the  afternoon  the  column  halted  for  the 
night  on  its  hither  bank.  The  charming  freshness  and 
beauty  of  the  stream  and  its  surroundings  led  the  Admiral 
to  call  it  the  Verdant  River;  and  from  an  abundance  of 
polished  and  glittering  pebbles  in  its  bed  and  on  its  banks 
he  saw  that  he  was  approaching  the  metalliferous  region. 

Saturday,  the  i5th,  the  route  lay  across  this  stream  and 
through  a  country  of  increasingly  difficult  passage.  Several 
villages  of  importance  were  passed,  and  in  each  the  natives 
fled  to  their  huts  and  barred  the  open  doorways  with  canes. 
Towards  nightfall  the  column  reached  the  base  of  a  long  and 
steep  ascent  which  the  Indian  guides  declared  was  the  gate 
of  Cibao,  and  here  the  wearied  troops  were  glad  to  rest  for 
the  night.  The  distance  travelled  had  not  been  great,  but 
the  roads,  or  rather  paths,  had  been  of  the  roughest,  and  all 
save  the  few  horsemen  were  exhausted.  Something  of  the 
novelty  of  their  first  sensations  had  also  worn  off,  and  the 
forbidding  nature  of  the  rugged  district  confronting  them 
threatened  a  degree  of  toil  and  discomfort  which  was  more 
vivid  to  their  minds  than  the  recollection  of  the  grateful 
scenes  of  the  past  few  days.  On  Sunday  morning  the 
Admiral  sent  back  to  Isabella  a  party  of  men  with  some  of 
his  native  carriers  and  several  horses  in  order  to  obtain 
fresh  supplies  of  bread  and  wine  for  the  troops.  Another 
detachment  attacked  the  pass  before  them  and  shortly  had 
cleared  a  passable  road  for  the  remaining  horses  and  the 
main  column,  which  accordingly  resumed  the  ascent  of  the 
mountain.  On  reaching  the  crest  of  the  divide  the  Span 
iards  had  the  choice  of  two  widely  differing  panoramas, 
according  as  they  looked  ahead  or  turned  and  reviewed  the 
district  they  had  already  traversed.  In  the  one  direction 
was  the  stern  and  troubled  confusion  of  barren  mountains 
and  gigantic  walls  of  rock;  in  the  other,  the  fair  and  seduc 
tive  face  of  the  lovely  Vega  Real.  It  is  characteristic  of 
the  time  and  its  men  that  they  cared  nothing  now  for  the 
quiet  charms  and  peaceful  plenty  of  the  broad  savannahs 
where  so  lately  they  had  revelled.  Harsh  as  was  the  path 
ahead  of  them,  it  led  into  the  recesses  where  the  gold 
"grew,"  and  that  alone  was  worthy  their  consideration. 


THE  BEGINNING    OF  CONQUEST.  149 

As  the  Spaniards  turned  their  backs  on  the  Vega  and 
penetrated  into  the  denies  of  the  sierras,  they  found  cause 
to  revise  another  of  the  censures  so  freely  passed  in  secret 
against  their  commander  and  those  who  supported  him. 
Not  only  was  there  evidence  of  gold,  but  of  such  quantity 
of  it  as  seemed  likely  to  lend  confirmation  to  all  they  had 
ever  heard  of  the  golden  treasures  of  the  Indies  they  had 
so  lately  cursed.  Not  a  creek  or  ravine  but  showed  the 
yellow  specks  or  spangles  in  bank  or  gravelly  bed,  while 
in  many  of  the  adjoining  rocks  those  who  laid  claim  to  such 
special  knowledge  professed  to  discern  indications  of  the 
precious  ore.  The  column  was  now  on  ground  familiar  to 
Hojeda,  where  he  had  made  his  search  for  gold  and  gathered 
all  he  could  obtain.  The  Indians  of  the  district,  mindful 
of  the  importance  attached  by  their  former  white  visitors  to 
the  yellow  stuff  they  themselves  cared  so  little  for,  hastened 
to  meet  the  Guamiquina  (the  great  chief)  of  these  strangely 
bearded  beings,  and  proffered  him  gifts  of  gold  in  dust 
and  nugget  which  they  had  collected  since  they  knew  that 
their  visitors  cared  for  it.  The  Admiral  accepted  them  all, 
readily  enough,  and  made  such  return  for  them  as  satisfied 
the  donors.  Doubtless  the  advantage  was  on  his  side,  but 
they  did  not  think  so;  and  there  is  every  reason  to  believe 
that  they  acted  freely  and  gladly  at  that  time  in  pressing 
their  offerings  upon  the  Spanish  explorers  and  that  the  latter 
treated  them  with  a  wise  forbearance. 

The  expedition  had  gone  so  far  into  the  mountains  that 
further  advance  with  the  horses  was  impracticable.  In  front 
of  them  rose  the  lofty  wilderness  of  bald  summits,  sheer 
precipices,  and  towering  peaks  composing  the  sierras  proper, 
and  to  attempt  to  thread  their  gloomy  defiles  was  beyond  the 
Admiral's  plans.  This  was  a  task  better  fitted  for  smaller 
scouting-parties,  who  might  conduct  the  work  of  explora 
tion  more  successfully  than  the  main  column,  with  its 
demands  of  commissariat  and  transportation.  He  was  al 
ready  satisfied  with  the  mineral  prospects  of  the  district, 
for,  in  addition  to  the  widely  diffused  indications  of  gold, 
he  had  found  traces  of  copper  and  lapis-lazuli,  besides 
amber  and  various  aromatic  trees  and  shrubs  on  the  lower 


150        THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

hills,  which,  he  thought,  promised  a  yield  of  valuable  spices. 
Therefore,  when,  in  the  course  of  the  day's  march,  he  came 
upon  a  rounded  hill  encircled  on  three  sides  by  a  swift 
stream  of  crystal  waters,  in  whose  gravelly  bed  the  Spaniards 
found  evidence  of  fine  gold  in  plenty,  he  determined  to  call 
a  halt  and  built  there  the  fort  destined  to  serve  as  the  base 
of  future  operations.  The  river  was  called  Janique  by  the 
natives,  and  was  only  one  of  a  number  of  similar  streams 
which  flowed  from  the  rocky  gorges  of  the  mountains 
beyond,  so  that  the  site  was  convenient  alike  for  access  to 
the  depth  of  the  Cibao  ranges  and  for  communication  with 
Isabella.  Here  the  Admiral  passed  four  days,  superintend 
ing  the  building  of  the  stronghold,  which  was  to  bear  the 
name  of  St.  Thomas,  as  he  had  foreplanned,  in  standing 
rebuke  of  the  sceptics  who  had  denied  the  existence  of  gold 
or  mines.  A  deep  ditch  was  dug  on  the  side  unprotected 
by  the  river,  and  a  tower  of  rough  masonry  erected  on  the 
summit  of  the  hill.  Around  this  were  built  the  barracks 
and  stockades  of  heavy  beams  filled  in  with  clay.  A  little 
island  at  the  foot  of  the  hill,  across  the  stream,  offered  a  safe 
place  for  the  growth  of  such  European  vegetables  and  grains 
as  the  garrison  might  choose  to  plant,  and  the  whole  aspect 
of  the  spot  was  one  of  healthful  quiet  and  security.1  The' 
Spaniards  drew  varying  auguries  from  an  incident  attending 
the  digging  of  the  ditch.  At  the  depth  of  a  fathom  or  more 
beneath  the  surface,  the  laborers  came  upon  some  fossilized 
birds'  nests,  with  three  or  four  eggs  converted  into  stone. 
Great  was  the  wonder  excited  by  this  unusual  spectacle,  and 
the  more  sanguine  among  the  spectators  argued  that  the 
petrifications  were  proof  positive  of  the  mineral  character 
of  the  soil  of  Cibao. 

In  the  meantime,  two  cavaliers,  Lujan  and  Caspar,  were 
sent  farther  into  the  mountains,  with  a  scouting  party.  They 

1  Las  Casas  inherited  from  his  father,  who  was  with  Columbus  on 
this  exploration,  a  small  estate  which  included  this  fort  and  its  vicinity. 
He  expatiates  with  naive  delight  upon  its  beauties,  and  says  that  even 
at  the  time  of  his  own  residence  there,  thirty  years  afterwards,  the  little 
island  produced  "  the  best  onions  in  all  this  Hispaniola,"  grown  from 
the  seeds  planted  by  the  garrison  of  the  Admiral's  fort. 


THE  BEGINNING    OF  CONQUEST.  151 

returned  in  a  few  days  with  a  report  extolling  the  wealth  of 
the  district,  and  declaring  that  in  many  parts  it  was  even  as 
fertile  as  the  lower  country.  Work  upon  the  fort  progressed 
so  well  that  by  Friday,  the  2ist  of  March,  the  Admiral 
felt  justified  in  commencing  his  homeward  journey,  for  the 
condition  of  the  colonists  of  Isabella  was  a  source  of  con 
stant  anxiety  to  him.  He  left  Pedro  Margarite  at  Fort  St. 
Thomas,  as  commander  and  deputy,  with  fifty-two  good 
men,  giving  him  ample  instructions  as  to  his  method  of 
procedure  both  towards  the  natives  and  with  regard  to  the 
prosecution  of  the  mining,  or  rather  washing,  operations. 
Shortly  after  setting  out  upon  their  return,  the  main  col 
umn  encountered  the  train  of  horses  and  Indian  carriers 
which  had  been  sent  to  the  town  the  week  before  for  addi 
tional  supplies,  and  these  the  Admiral  ordered  to  continue 
on  to  the  fort  and  there  discharge  their  burdens.  He  and 
his  own  force  experienced  much  difficulty  on  this  march, 
owing  to  the  rivers  being  greatly  swollen  by  heavy  rains  in 
the  sierra.  They  were  detained  so  long  that  they  were 
forced  to  buy  from  the  villages  through  which  they  passed 
such  native  food  as  the  Indians  had  to  offer,  and  it  was 
not  until  the  29111  of  the  month  that  they  reached  Isabella. 
Throughout  the  return,  as  on  the  advance,  they  had  met 
with  nothing  but  confidence  and  hospitality  from  the 
natives,  and  this  the  Admiral  had  requited  in  kind  by  for 
bidding  any  excess  or  offence,  and  scrupulously  paying  in 
beads  and  other  trinkets  for  all  that  was  supplied  or  given 
to  his  men. 

The  seventeen  days  which  had  elapsed  since  the  depar 
ture  of  the  expedition  for  Cibao  had  passed  far  less  cheer 
fully  in  the  town  than  with  the  absentees.  The  sickness 
continued  to  spread  among  the  people,  and  was  aggravated 
by  the  short  rations  and  enforced  labor.  There  was,  indeed, 
an  intimate  connection  between  the  two  causes  which 
should  have  been  sufficient  for  reasonable  men;  but  the 
fever-stricken  and  discontented  crowd  which  remained  at 
Isabella,  was  in  no  frame  of  mind  to  listen  to  anything 
but  the  recital  of  its  own  grievances.  The  small  stock 
of  biscuit  which  was  landed  unspoiled  from  the  ships  had 


152        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

soon  been  exhausted,  and  there  was  left  nothing  but  the 
supply  of  wheat  in  grain.  To  grind  this  into  flour,  a  mill 
was  necessary,  and  no  suitable  site  for  it  was  found  nearer 
than  a  league  up  the  river.  This  involved  an  amount  of 
labor  beyond  the  forces  of  the  few  ditchers  and  artisans 
among  the  colonists,  and  when  they  succumbed  to  the 
climate, —  as  they  were  sure  to  do  at  such  work, —  either 
the  "gentlemen  "  of  the  colony  had  to  be  called  on  to  help 
or  all  hands  would  have  to  go  hungry.  In  face  of  this 
dilemma,  Columbus  did  not  hesitate  to  order  the  work  to 
be  done  by  the  arms  available ;  whether  they  were  covered 
by  black  mantles  or  leathern  jerkins  was  a  matter  of  little 
importance.  Unlike  their  ambitious  peers  of  the  Gentle 
men's  Pass,  the  ditch-digging  hidalgos  of  the  town  looked 
upon  their  unfamiliar  duty  as  an  indignity,  and  as  soon  as  the 
Admiral's  back  was  turned,  took  counsel  with  other  mal 
contents  among  the  officials.  Finding  a  congenial  spirit 
in  Fray  Boil,  they  resolved  to  lay  a  representation  of  their 
unhappy  condition  before  the  Crown  and  demand  the  retire 
ment  of  the  foreign  upstart  who  thus  abused  his  authority 
as  Viceroy  to  humiliate  and  sacrifice  Spanish  noblemen. 
Such  was  the  posture  of  affairs  which  Diego  Columbus  had 
to  report  to  his  brother,  upon  the  latter 's  return  from  his 
successful  expedition  to  the  mines.  There  was  nothing  to 
do  but  to  repeat  his  action  in  the  more  serious  case  of 
Bernal  de  Pisa,  punishing  the  leaders  in  the  dissatisfaction 
and  warning  their  followers.  If  this  had  the  momentary 
effect  of  repressing  the  open  evidences  of  sedition,  it  only 
increased  the  hidden  irritation,  and  there  were  many 
now  ready  to  join  any  scheme  which  should  be  proposed 
for  abandoning  the  Genoese  Admiral,  and  betaking  them 
to  Spain  to  lay  their  complaints  before  the  King  and 
Queen.  Incidentally,  by  so  doing,  they  might  obtain  a 
larger  share  in  the  emoluments  likely  to  flow  from 
these  self-same  Indies;  for  they  were  only  a  "delusion" 
when  administered  by  Columbus,  his  brother  and  their 
coterie. 

The  Admiral's  position  was  sufficiently  harassing  from 
the  discovery  of  this  new  outbreak  of  discontent;  but  it 


THE  BEGINNING    OF  CONQUEST.  153 

was  rendered  absolutely  precarious  by  a  new  danger  which 
arose  most  unexpectedly  in  another  quarter.     Scarcely  a 
week  had  passed  after  his  return  to  Isabella,  when  messen 
gers  arrived  from  Margarita,  announcing  that  the  Indians 
were  abandoning  their  villages  in  masses  and  withdrawing 
into   the    mountains   of    Cibao,   whence    the   redoubtable 
Caonabo  had  sent  word  to  the  Spaniards,  that  he  should 
shortly  issue  forth  with  an  overwhelming  force  and  sweep 
Fort  St.  Thomas  and  its  garrison  from  the  earth  as  com 
pletely  as  he  had  the  ill-fated  Navidad.     This  was  in  such 
complete  contrast  with  all  that  Columbus  had  seen  of  the 
attitude  of  the  natives  while  on  his  expedition,  and  "all 
that  he  had  learned  concerning  Caonabo,  that  the  effect 
was  well-nigh  disheartening.     Any  hesitation   might  and 
probably  would  involve  Margarite  and  his  force  in  destruc 
tion,  and,  at  the  same  time,  any  half  measures  would  be 
merely  sowing  the  seeds  of   future  embarrassment.     The 
Admiral  accordingly  consulted  with  those  of  his  adjutants 
in  whom  he  had  faith,  and  soon  settled  upon  a  course  of 
action  intended  to  deal  radically  with  the  present  danger, 
and   provide   against   its  recurrence.     The  plan  contem 
plated  tallies  so  closely  with  the  character  of  Hojeda,  and 
that  impetuous  youth  played  so  prominent  a  part  in  its 
execution,  that  we  are  disposed  to  attribute  to  him  the  sug 
gestion  of  its  main  feature,  which  was,  in  plain  English,  the 
kidnapping  of  Caonabo.     We  hasten  to  add  that  we  have 
no  idea  of  shifting  any  responsibility  from  the  Admiral's 
shoulders  in  saying  this :  the  measure  was  too  consonant 
with  the  spirit  of  the  times  to  admit  any  doubt  as  to  his 
probable   willingness   to   originate    it;    but  we    think  the 
sequel  gives  color  to  a  belief  that  Hojeda  was  the  author 
of  the  scheme,  which  undoubtedly  received  the  hearty  ap 
proval  of  his  leader. 

Orders  were  issued  for  all  the  healthy  men  to  prepare  at 
once  for  a  prolonged  campaign,  and  for  the  horsemen  to 
make  part  of  the  force.  Such  provisions  as  the  storehouses 
afforded  were  hastily  packed  for  carriage  by  native  por 
ters,  and  to  these  were  added  the  arms  likely  to  be  needed 
by  the  military  portion  of  the  force  at  St.  Thomas.  When 


154        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE   ADMIRAL. 

the  arrangements  were  completed,  and  the  detachment 
ready  to  march,  every  available  man  in  Isabella  was  in  the 
ranks,  leaving  the  colony  to  be  cared  for  and  defended  by 
the  convalescents,  artisans  and  mechanics,  with  the  officials 
and  priests  to  help  them.  Hojeda  was  put  in  command 
of  the  relieving  column,  which  mustered  396  strong;  16 
horsemen,  250  lance  and  cross-bow  men,  no  arquebusiers 
and  twenty  officers.  Among  the  latter  were  those  most 
trusted  by  the  Admiral,  so  that  in  stripping  the  town  of  its 
defenders,  and  himself  of  his  faithful  adherents,  he  was 
giving  the  best  evidence  of  the  importance  he  attached  to 
the  movement.  Hojeda  bore  a  detailed  letter  of  instruc 
tions  to  Margarite,  and  was  himself  given  certain  verbal 
orders.  He  was  to  follow  a  different  road  from  that  taken 
by  the  first  expedition,  in  order  to  avoid  some  of  the 
obstacles  met  with  at  that  time.  His  directions  were  of 
the  strictest  in  relation  to  the  considerate  treatment  of  the 
Indians  of  the  Vega  Real  and  elsewhere.  On  arriving  at 
St.  Thomas,  he  was  to  turn  over  the  command  of  the  larger 
column  to  Margarite,  who  was  to  continue  the  advance  into 
Cibao  in  search  of  Caonabo,  Hojeda  remaining  meanwhile 
as  commandant  of  the  fort,  with  the  original  garrison  of 
fifty-two,  and  a  reinforcement  of  seventy  more  from  the 
relieving  force.  The  assignment  of  this  relatively  pacific 
duty  to  the  young  captain  may,  perhaps,  be  interpreted  as 
indicating  some  doubt  in  the  Admiral's  mind  as  to  his 
fitness  for  the  diplomatic  task  of  securing  possession  of  the 
redoubted  cacique  without  rousing  the  native  population 
to  a  war  of  reprisal. 

Hojeda  left  Isabella  with  his  command  on  the  gth  of 
April.  The  letter  of  instructions  which  he  was  to  deliver 
to  Don  Pedro  Margarite  was  full  and  explicit,  and  was 
dated  on  the  same  day.  It  thus  apparently  includes  the 
final  deliberations  of  the  Admiral  in  the  matter  of  his  policy 
towards  the  natives,  whether  these  belonged  to  the  peace 
able  tribes,  like  those  of  the  Vega,  or  were  warriors,  like 
those  under  the  leadership  of  Caonabo  and  Mayrionex.  As 
it  was  written  under  the  influence  of  a  sudden  surprise  and 
an  apprehended  collision  with  the  mountaineers  of  Cibao, 


THE   BEGINNING    OF  CONQUEST.  155 

and  was  issued  specifically  under  the  absolute  authority 
vested  in  Columbus  as  Viceroy  and  perpetual  Governor  of 
the  Indies  for  the  King  and  Queen,  without  fear  of  censure 
or  criticism,  it  may  safely  be  assumed  to  be  the  natural  and 
genuine  expression  of  his  sentiments  and  intentions  at  that 
time  with  regard  to  the  native  population.  From  this  point 
of  view  the  document  possesses  a  peculiar  interest  for 
those  who  care  to  form  their  own  estimate  of  its  author's 
character. 

Upon  the  arrival  of  Hojeda's  column  at  Fort  St.  Thomas, 
it  recites,  Margarite  is  to  divide  it  into  as  many  separate 
battalions,  preferably  three,  as  he  judges  best  for  the  service 
contemplated  (for  he  was  reputed  a  gallant  and  skilful  gen 
eral),  appointing  to  the  command  of  each  the  captain  he  may 
select.  The  Admiral  declares,  that,  although  what  he  writes 
is  based  upon  such  experience  as  has  thus  far  been  gathered 
in  the  several  expeditions  sent  out  from  Isabella,  he  leaves 
to  Margarite  full  liberty  to  add  to,  or  take  from,  the  in 
structions  which  follow  anything  which,  in  his  opinion,  the 
special  circumstances  of  the  time  or  place  may  demand, 
"for  the  principal  object  in  view  is  that  you  march  with  all 
the  people  here  enumerated  throughout  this  whole  island, 
reconnoitering  its  provinces,  people,  districts,  and  produc 
tions,  and  particularly  the  whole  province  of  Cibao."  In 
executing  this  programme,  the  Admiral  adds,  Margarite  may 
rely  upon  being  supported  with  all  that  he  needs  from  Isa 
bella  as  a  base.  "The  chief  thing  which  you  have  to  do," 
proceeds  the  letter,  "  is  to  protect  carefully  the  Indians, 
that  no  harm  or  wrong  be  done  them,  and  nothing  taken 
from  them  against  their  will;  rather  let  them  be  shown 
respect,  and  be  so  satisfied  that  they  will  not  have  cause  for 
anger."  In  somewhat  violent  contrast  to  this  recommenda 
tion,  he  directs  that  if  any  Indian  should  steal  from  the 
Spaniards  he  is  to  have  nose  and  ears  cut  off,  "  for  these  are 
members  which  cannot  be  concealed,"  and  thus  the  natives 
will  soon  learn,  that  "  it  was  for  the  theft  committed,  and 
that  the  good  will  be  very  kindly  treated,  but  the  evil  will  be 
punished."  The  proposed  chastisement  has,  of  course, 
given  occasion  for  a  chorus  of  vehement  outbursts  from  his 


156        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

censors  against  the  rank  cruelty  of  Columbus;  but  they  for 
get  that  he  was  merely  applying  the  accepted  punishment 
of  his  day  for  the  offence  specified,  and  that  the  statute 
books  of  both  Europe  and  America  imposed  the  same  or  a 
worse  penalty  for  theft  for  centuries  after  his  fingers  were 
dust.  The  Admiral  based  his  order  upon  the  tendency  to 
pilfer,  which  he  had  observed  both  in  his  first  voyage  and 
on  this  recent  march  to  Cibao.  Whether  it  was  policy  or 
not  to  treat  the  Indians,  to  whom  the  appropriation  of  what 
they  liked  was  no  crime,  as  though  they  were  thieving  Span 
ish  peasants,  is  a  matter  of  opinion;  but  it  is  idle  to  claim 
that  any  cruelty  was  intended  or  sanctioned  in  visiting  upon 
the  savages  a  retribution  not  deemed  excessive  for  European 
offenders. 

The  scantiness  of  Spanish  rations  available  would  compel 
Margarite  to  depend  to  a  great  extent  upon  the  natives  for 
subsistence;  and,  accordingly,  minute  instructions  are  given 
as  to  his  treatment  of  the  Indians  in  procuring  supplies. 
Two  minor  officials  are  intrusted  with  a  sufficient  quantity 
of  beads,  hawk-bells,  and  other  trinkets  to  be  used  in 
exchange  for  provisions,  and  are  strictly  enjoined  "to  pay 
in  these  articles  for  all  the  bread  and  other  victuals  which 
it  may  be  needful  to  buy,"  keeping  a  detailed  account  of 
the  time,  place,  and  character  of  every  transaction,  and  con 
ducting  each  in  the  presence  of  a  deputy  of  the  Comptroller. 
To  insure  the  execution  of  this  order,  Margarite  is  told  to 
detach  twenty-five  men  and  place  them  under  the  command 
of  Luis  de  Arriaga,  who  shall  act  in  the  double  capacity  of 
guard  and  overseer  for  the  commissaries  appointed,  "so 
that  there  may  be  no  excuse  for  any  one,  of  whatever  rank 
or  condition  he  may  be,  to  take  anything  from  the  Indians 
and  thus  cause  them  two  thousand  vexations.  This  is  some 
thing,"  pursues  the  Admiral,  with  an  evident  appreciation  of 
the  danger  of  unrestricted  intercourse  between  his  followers 
and  the  confiding  natives,  "which  is  especially  contrary  to 
the  wishes  and  service  of  the  King  and  Queen,  our  sover 
eigns.  Their  Majesties  desire  more  the  salvation  of  these 
people,  and  that  they  may  become  Christians,  than  all  the 
treasures  that  can  issue  from  this  country.  Therefore  ample 


THE   BEGINNING    OF  CONQUEST.  157 

provision  is  made  so  that  every  one  may  be  satisfied,  since 
their  Majesties  have  ordered  that  they  should  all  be  paid  for 
food  and  such  other  things  as  may  be  necessary  to  you.  If 
by  chance  you  should  not  obtain  enough  food  by  purchase, 
you  are  to  take  measures  to  secure  it  otherwise,  taking  it  in 
the  most  honest  manner  practicable  and  coaxing  the  In 
dians."  The  latter  advice  resembles  somewhat  that  attrib 
uted  to  the  Quaker  parent;  but  its  motive  is  clearly  to  pre 
vent  injustice  to  the  natives. 

Having  taken  what  precautions  he  deemed  sufficient  to 
ensure  the  maintenance  of  pacific  relations  with  the  Indian 
population  in  general,  Columbus  now  proceeds  to  unfold 
his  scheme  for  securing  the  person  of  that  chief,  who,  he 
considered,  represented  the  element  hostile  to  the  Spanish 
occupation  of  Hispaniola.  It  is  hardly  necessary,  with  the 
experience  of  four  centuries  of  contact  between  European 
and  aborigine  to  guide  us,  to  dwell  upon  the  futility  of  his 
calculations;  nor  is  it  profitable  to  hurl  objurgations  at  the 
long-dead  discoverer  for  the  moral  obtuseness  which  sanc 
tioned  such  a  plan.  In  proposing  it,  the  Admiral  and  his 
advisers  were  following  a  custom  not  only  permitted  but 
applauded  in  the  wars  with  which  they  were  most  familiar, 
and  to  Columbus  the  act  was  more  than  justifiable;  it  was 
obligatory  in  view  of  the  massacre  by  Caonabo  of  the  Navi- 
dad  garrison.  With  this  stroke  the  Admiral  hoped  to 
remove  the  main  danger  of  a  native  revolt,  and  send  to  Spain 
the  most  famous  warrior  of  the  Indies  as  an  earnest  to  their 
Majesties  of  the  successful  establishment  of  the  Spanish 
power.  There  is  a  frankness  about  the  whole  proposition 
which  would  be  cynical  were  it  not  for  its  transparent  sim 
plicity. 

"In  this  affair  of  Caonabo/1  the  Admiral  writes  to  Margarite, 
"  I  greatly  desire  that  such  a  course  should  be  diligently  pursued 
that  we  may  be  enabled  to  have  him  in  our  power,  and  to  ac 
complish  this  you  should  proceed  in  the  following  manner,  in 
my  opinion :  send  some  one,  with  ten  very  discreet  men,  who 
shall  take  a  present  of  certain  things  which  are  being  taken  to 
you  by  those  who  carry  the  articles  for  traffic.  Let  these  men 
natter  him,  and  show  him  that  I  have  a  great  longing  for  his 


158        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE   ADMIRAL. 

friendship  and  will  send  him  other  gifts,  and  that  he  should  send 
us  some  gold.  Let  them  impress  upon  him  how  it  is  that  you 
are  there  and  that  you  are  marching  through  the  country  at 
pleasure  with  many  people ;  that  we  have  men  beyond  number 
and  each  day  many  more  are  coming,  and  that  I  will  send  him 
constantly  some  of  the  articles  they  are  bringing  from  Castile. 
Let  him  be  treated  with  this  kind  of  speech  until  you  have  estab 
lished  friendship  with  him,  so  that  he  may  be  the  more  quickly 
taken.  You  should  not  attempt  just  now  to  go  to  Caonabo  with 
the  whole  force,  but  send  Contreras.  He  can  take  the  ten 
soldiers,  and  they  can  return  with  the  reply  wherever  you  may 
be.  As  soon  as  this  party  has  been  received,  you  can  send 
another  and  yet  another,  until  the  said  Caonabo  is  satisfied  and 
without  suspicion  that  you  intend  doing  him  harm,  when  you 
can  decide  upon  the  method  of  capturing  him  as  to  you  may 
seem  best  and  according  to  what  Contreras  shall  have  told  him. 
In  this  let  Contreras  do  only  what  you  shall  have  said  and  not 
exceed  it. 

"The  method  to  be  pursued  in  seizing  Caonabo,  subject  to 
what  may  be  discovered  at  the  time,  is  this :  Contreras  is  to 
labor  diligently  with  him  and  arrange  that  Caonabo  goes  to  talk 
with  you,  so  that  you  may  the  more  securely  accomplish  his 
seizure.  As  he  is  accustomed  to  go  naked,  it  would  be  difficult 
to  hold  him,  and  if  once  he  should  escape  and  flee  it  would  not 
be  possible  to  get  him  again  in  your  hands,  owing  to  the  nature 
of  the  country ;  therefore,  when  he  is  before  you,  give  him  a 
shirt  and  have  him  dress  himself  at  once,  let  him  have  also  a 
long  gown  and  girdle  it  with  a  belt,  and  put  a  hood  upon  his 
head.  Having  done  this  you  may  secure  him  and  he  cannot 
escape.  You  ought  likewise  to  seize  his  relatives  who  may  be 
with  him.  If  for  any  reason  Caonabo  himself  should  be  indis 
posed,  so  that  he  cannot  go  to  visit  you,  so  manage  with  him 
that  he  will  accept  in  good  part  your  going  to  him.  Before  you 
reach  him  Contreras  ought  to  precede  you  to  assure  him,  saying 
to  him  that  you  are  visiting  him  for  the  purpose  of  seeing  and 
knowing  him  and  establishing  friendly  relations ;  for  upon  your 
appearing  with  a  large  force  he  might  become  apprehensive  and 
start  to  escape  to  the  mountains,  and  you  would  miss  the  quarry. 
All  this,  however,  is  referred  to  your  discretion,  for  you  to  do  as 
you  think  best." 

Such  was  the  elaborate  stratagem  planned  to  secure  this 
one  savage  leader.  We  have  given  it  to  our  readers  at  full 
length,  because  it  illustrates  so  graphically  that  side  of  the 


THE  BEGINNING    OF  CONQUEST.  159 

character  of  Columbus  which  has  been  persistently  attacked 
as  contemptible  and  mean.  Tried  by  the  standard  of  morals 
which  we  preach,  it  admits  of  no  defence,  for  it  is  a  net 
work  of  deceit  and  falsehood.  Compared  with  the  code 
of  ethics  which  we  ourselves  have  so  consistently  practised 
in  our  relations  with  the  red  man,  an  experienced  ob 
server  would  doubtless  pronounce  Columbus  to  be  almost 
too  thoughtful  of  his  adversary  to  make  a  successful  Indian 
fighter. 

The  remaining  instructions  to  Margarite  relate  to  matters 
of  discipline.  He  is  to  see  that  justice  is  respected  and 
that  all  who  disobey  his  orders  are  severely  chastised,  other 
wise  the  errors  of  Arana's  force  might  be  repeated;  the  men 
would  scatter,  lose  their  sense  of  duty,  and  commit  excesses, 
and  thus  be  exposed  to  retaliation  by  the  natives  who  would 
not  hesitate  to  murder  stragglers,  although  they  were  too 
cowardly  to  attack  the  larger  parties.  "Let  me  remind 
you,"  writes  the  Admiral,  "that  there  are  no  people  so  evil 
as  cowards,  who  never  give  quarter  to  any  one;  so  that  if 
these  Indians  find  one  or  two  men  straggling  it  would  not 
be  surprising  if  they  killed  them."  Margarite  is  further 
ordered  to  open  roads  and  paths  on  whatever  journeys  he 
should  make,  erecting  crosses  at  convenient  points  and  cut 
ting  them  and  the  names  of  their  Catholic  Majesties  on  the 
largest  trees  in  signal  of  possession.  He  is  also  to  under 
take  a  reconnoissance  into  the  country  beyond  Cibao  which 
the  natives  called  Yamahuix,  and  determine  its  nature,  as 
well  as  the  extent  of  Cibao.  But,  since  Caspar's  scout 
established  the  nearly  impassable  character  of  those  regions, 
Margarite  is  cautioned  to  leave  his  horses  behind  at  Fort  St. 
Thomas  in  care  of  a  skilful  trooper  who  will  keep  them  in 
condition.  The  document  closes  by  conferring  upon  Mar 
garite  "the  same  power  which  I  hold  from  their  Majesties 
as  Viceroy  and  Captain  General  of  these  Indies,"  and 
charges  all  who  are  under  his  command  to  obey  his  instruc 
tions  as  fully  and  under  the  same  penalties  for  disobedience 
as  though  the  author  were  present  in  person.  It  is  signed 
with  the  signature  generally  used  by  Columbus  after  the 
Discovery,  —  "The  Admiral." 


l6o        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE   ADMIRAL. 

Hojeda  left  Isabella  with  his  column  on  the  same  day, 
April  gth.  His  progress  to  and  through  the  Vega  Real  was 
marked  by  no  incident  more  serious  than  meeting  with 
three  Spaniards  coming  from  Fort  St.  Thomas,  who  com 
plained  that,  in  fording  the  Golden  River,  the  Indians 
who  were  carrying  their  arms  and  clothes  had  abandoned 
the  white  men  and  gone  back  to  their  own  village  with  the 
plunder,  which  they  had  delivered  over  to  their  cacique. 
The  latter,  instead  of  punishing  them,  coolly  appropriated 
the  clothing  for  his  own  adornment.  On  learning  who 
this  chief  was,  Hojeda  vowed  to  take  vengeance  upon  him 
for  the  theft,  and  as  soon  as  he  reached  the  village  incon 
tinently  seized  both  the  cacique  and  his  nephew  and  sent 
them  back  to  Isabella  in  chains.  Not  content  with  this, 
he  caused  one  of  the  guilty  Indians  to  be  brought  into  the 
public  square  or  meeting  ground  of  the  settlement,  and 
there  cut  off  his  ears  as  a  warning  to  his  tribe,  after  which 
he  resumed  his  march.  When  the  two  captives,  with  their 
guard,  passed  the  villages  adjoining  their  own,  the  sight  of 
their  chains  and  their  tale  of  injustice  so  moved  the  other 
natives,  that  another  cacique  volunteered  to  accompany 
them  to  the  white  men's  town  and  plead  their  cause  with 
the  great  Guamiquina  himself;  confident  that,  when  the 
Admiral  should  know  that  these  prisoners  were  among  those 
chiefs  who  had  shown  the  most  friendliness  and  hospitality 
both  to  himself  while  on  the  way  to  Gibao  and  to  Hojeda 
on  his  first  expedition,  he  would  instantly  order  them 
released.  In  due  time  the  party  reached  Isabella,  and  the 
case  was  laid  before  Golumbus.  He  chose  rather  to 
believe  Hojeda's  report  concerning  it  than  the  statements 
of  the  prisoners  and  their  loyal  neighbor,  and,  in  order  to 
impress  them  with  an  exhibition  both  of  his  authority  and 
clemency,  sentenced  the  captive  cacique  and  his  nephew 
to  death.  They  were  accordingly  led  out  to  the  plaza  and 
announcement  made  that  they  were  to  be  decapitated, 
whereat  their  fellow-cacique  implored  the  Admiral,  with 
tears  and  sobs,  to  spare  their  lives,  assuring  him,  as  well  as 
he  could  by  signs  and  words,  that  never  again  should  the 
offence  be  repeated.  After  a  sufficient  show  of  harshness, 


THE   BEGINNING    OF  CONQUEST.  i6l 

the  Admiral  consented  to  pardon  them  and  ordered  their 
release,  vastly  to  the  joy  of  their  disinterested  advocate. 
So  far  no  harm  had  been  done.  The  coup  de  theatre 
planned  by  Columbus  seems  scarcely  worth  while  in  our 
present  lights;  but  it  may  have  had  its  value  under  the 
circumstances.  The  same  trick  has  been  played  since 
with  good  results.  But  before  the  captive  cacique's  peo 
ple  had  an  opportunity  to  learn  the  clemency  shown  their 
chief,  they  had  taken  the  law  in  their  own  hands  by  sur 
rounding  a  squad  of  five  Spaniards,  who  passed  through 
their  village  after  Hojeda's  departure,  and  threatening 
them  with  death  in  retaliation  for  the  anticipated  loss  of 
their  cacique.  Just  as  the  unfortunate  Castilians  had  con 
cluded  that  their  last  hour  had  sounded,  one  of  the  mounted 
men-at-arms  from  Hojeda's  column  came  into  the  same 
village.  Seeing  his  comrades  surrounded  by  a  crowd  of 
several  hundred  angry  natives,  he  promptly  laid  his  lance 
in  rest  and  spurred  his  horse  into  the  naked  throng.  The 
effect  was  instantaneous,  for  most  of  the  Indians  still  con 
sidered  the  horseman  to  be  some  kind  of  composite 
demon :  in  a  moment  the  five  Spaniards  were  free  men  and 
their  captors  had  fled  to  the  woods.  The  soldiers  reached 
Isabella  safely,  just  after  the  Admiral  had  released  his  two 
condemned  prisoners,  and  related  their  story.  It  did  not 
affect  his  determination,  but  it  gave  him  food  for  reflec 
tion,  for  he  saw  more  clearly  than  ever  the  danger  of 
disaster  from  the  unjust  and  despotic  conduct  of  his  fol 
lowers  in  their  dealings  with  the  natives.  He  relied  on 
the  sincerity  of  his  own  intentions  towards  them,  and  the 
efficacy  of  his  explicit  instructions  to  Margarite  to  prevent 
a  recurrence  of  such  a  disturbing  incident  as  that  just 
closed;  but  in  this  he  was  grievously  in  error,  as  we  all 
know  from  the  sequel.  Nevertheless,  as  the  days  passed 
without  further  signs  of  discontent,  and  messengers  came 
and  went  freely  between  Isabella  and  St.  Thomas,  he 
persuaded  himself  that  the  trouble  at  the  Golden  River 
was  only  a  flash  in  the  pan,  and  that,  with  Margarite 
in  the  field  with  400  men,  all  risk  of  serious  trouble  was 
over. 

ii 


162        THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE   ADMIRAL. 

He  had  laid  down,  in  writing  and  by  his  actions,  on 
clearly  denned  lines,  the  policy  to  be  pursued  by  his  peo 
ple  in  their  relations  with  the  Indian  population,  and  in  the 
conviction  that  it  would  be  loyally  carried  out,  he  antici 
pated  no  further  ground  for  anxiety  on  this  score. 


IX. 


IDENTIFYING   ASIA. 

WITH  the  organization  of  the  expedition  sent  to  Mar- 
garite  the  Admiral  felt  that  he  had  provided,  so  far  as 
his  present  resources  allowed,  both  for  the  development  of 
the  Cibao  gold  workings  and  the  systematic  exploration  of  the 
island.  The  prompt  measures  adopted  for  repressing  the 
mutinous  tendency  of  the  discontented  faction  in  the  colony 
had,  he  believed,  removed  all  danger  of  open  revolt,  although 
he  realized  and  discounted  in  all  his  plans  the  existence  of 
a  wide-spread  spirit  of  dissatisfaction  with  himself  and  his 
methods.  Since  there  was  no  prospect  of  an  early  arrival 
of  vessels  from  Spain,  and  he  had  so  recently  sent  thither 
a  full  statement  of  his  proceedings,  and  the  needs  of  the  col 
ony,  he  conceived  that  no  opportunity  would  be  more  fitting 
for  him  to  execute  their  Majesties'  earnest  and  repeated  in 
junctions  to  complete  at  the  earliest  practicable  moment  his 
exploration  of  Cuba,  and  determine  whether  it  was  merely  a 
great  island,  as  the  Indians  had  told  him  at  the  time  of  the 
Discovery,  or  the  eastern  extension  of  the  Asiatic  continent, 
as  he  was  himself  disposed  to  argue.  In  reaching  this  de 
cision,  there  is  little  doubt  that  he  was  influenced  by  his 
natural  bias  in  favor  of  the  sea  and  the  investigation  of  its 
mysteries.  He  thought  that  the  question  concerning  Cuba 
could  be  settled  in  a  month  or  two  at  the  most,  and  he 
should  then  be  free  to  pursue  his  plans  of  discovery  towards 
the  South  in  the  near  future.  It  is,  perhaps,  worth  while 
to  bear  in  mind  these  motives,  for  they  furnish  a  sufficient 
answer  to  the  accusations  of  sordid  avarice  and  selfish  ambi- 

163 


1 64        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE   ADMIRAL. 

tion  so  freely  brought  against  Columbus  by  his  censors.  If 
he  were  greedy  of  gold,  why  should  he  turn  his  back  on  the 
proven  wealth  of  the  gravels  and  rocks  of  Cibao?  If  he 
were  covetous  of  power  and  official  rank,  why  should  he 
abandon  the  post  of  Viceroy,  and  subject  himself  to  the 
certain  hardships  and  doubtful  rewards  of  another  voyage  of 
discovery?  There  was  no  lack  of  competent  and  spirited 
navigators  and  adventurers  in  his  following ;  why  not  send 
these  to  explore  the  Cuban  coasts  ?  The  result  of  their  dis 
coveries  would  redound  to  his  glory,  and  the  government  of 
the  lands  they  might  find  would  fall  within  his  jurisdiction, 
whether  he  or  another  were  the  discoverer.  If  the  famous 
provinces  of  Mangi  and  Cathay  were  shown  to  lie  among 
the  Cuban  mountains,  as  he  had  believed  when  coasting  that 
island  the  year  before,  he  could  do  no  more  than  ascertain 
the  fact  with  the  force  he  proposed  to  take,  and  this  could 
be  as  well  done  by  a  deputy.  Look  at  the  matter  as  we 
may,  the  record  means  nothing,  if  it  does  not  prove  that, 
in  leaving  Isabella  at  the  time  and  in  the  manner  he  did, 
Columbus  sunk  the  Viceroy  in  the  Admiral,  and  subordi 
nated  every  other  sentiment  to  his  persistent  determination 
to  solve  the  enigmas  of  the  Ocean  Sea.  He  was  sailor  and 
explorer  in  every  fibre  of  his  being ;  and,  having  done  all  he 
deemed  necessary  to  develop  and  protect  the  interests  of 
the  Crown  in  Hispaniola,  his  thoughts  turned  to  blue  water 
and  unvisited  shores  as  naturally  as  do  those  of  certain  of 
his  critics  to  the  degraded  qualities  which  he  did  not  possess 
and  the  crimes  of  which  he  was  not  guilty. 

His  preparations  were  soon  and  simply  made.  The  gov 
ernment  of  the  island  was  committed  to  a  Council  com 
posed  of  Diego  Columbus  as  President,  and  Fray  Boil, 
Pedro  Alonzo  Coronel,  Alonzo  Sanchez  de  Carvajal,  and 
Juan  de  Lujan,  as  members.  These  were  to  receive  all  his 
delegated  powers,  while  Pedro  Margarite  was  to  be  com- 
mander-in-chief  of  the  military  forces,  and  the  Viceroy's 
lieutenant  in  partibus.  His  selection  of  councillors  and 
deputies,  with  the  one  exception  of  his  brother,  was  guided 
by  an  honest  desire  to  consult  the  preferences  of  his  sover 
eigns,  for  all  the  others  were  men  who  stood  high  in  the 


IDENTIFYING   ASIA.  165 

esteem  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  and  they  were  not  all 
friendly  to  the  Admiral.  Fray  Boil,  Columbus  knew,  was 
opposed  to  him,  for  he  had  espoused  the  cause  of  Bernal  de 
Pisa,  and  openly  disputed  the  Admiral's  right  to  make  Cas- 
tilian  hidalgos  work  like  common  laborers,  and  tonsured 
priests  live  on  short  rations  like  ordinary  laymen.  If  he  had 
been  seeking  only  his  own  welfare  and  aggrandizement,  his 
choice  would  have  been  otherwise ;  in  making  it  as  he  did 
he  displayed  both  policy  and  moderation.  Unfortunately, 
we  have  no  copy  preserved  of  the  instructions  left  with  the 
Council,  and  are  dependent  upon  occasional  references  for 
our  knowledge  of  its  proceedings  during  his  absence.  He 
left  with  the  colony  the  two  large  and  well-armed  carracks, 
fitting  out  only  the  three  small  caravels  as  better  suited  for 
his  own  purposes.  On  these  he  took  no  soldiers,  but  chose 
their  pilots,  officers,  and  crews  with  a  view  only  to  their  pro 
ficiency  as  seamen.  The  names  of  all  the  men  have  come 
down  to  us,  and  they  represent  nearly  every  seaport  in 
Spain,  and  a  few  in  Portugal  and  Italy.  The  Admiral  was 
going  on  no  summer  cruise,  and  he  wanted  none  but  sailor- 
men  on  board  his  craft.  The  little  fleet  was  scantily  pro 
visioned,  for  the  colonial  stores  were  at  the  lowest  ebb.  As 
interpreter  he  took  the  sole  survivor  of  the  natives  of  Guana- 
hani  who  had  returned  to  Spain  with  him  from  the  Discov 
ery.  This  young  Indian  had  been  baptized  by  the  name  of 
the  Admiral's  brother,  Diego  Colon,  and  was  proficient  in 
Spanish  as  well  as  in  some  of  the  dialects  of  Cuba  and  the 
Bahamas.  The  Admiral  selected  his  favorite  "  Nina  "  as  his 
flagship,  with  Juan  de  la  Cosa  and  Francisco  Nino  as  his 
chief  pilots.  A  priest  and  the  customary  crown  officials  — 
notary,  inspector,  and  comptroller — accompanied  the  squad 
ron,  together  with  three  or  four  body-servants  of  his  own. 

The  caravels  weighed  anchor  and  sailed  out  of  the  harbor 
of  Isabella  at  midday  on  Thursday,  the  24th  of  April,  barely 
a  fortnight  after  the  departure  of  Hojeda  and  his  column  to 
join  Margarite.  As  was  his  habit,  the  Admiral  began  his 
voyage  "in  the  name  of  the  Holy  Trinity,"  a  pious  formal 
ity  from  which  he  derived  much  consolation.  Taking  a 
westerly  course,  he  anchored  for  the  night  in  the  harbor  of 


1 66   THE  LAST  VOYAGES  OF  THE  ADMIRAL. 

Monte  Christi,  and  proceeded  the  next  day  to  the  old 
anchorage  at  Navidad.  He  hoped,  by  touching  here,  to 
find  that  Guacanagari  had  returned  from  his  hasty  flight, 
and  to  have  a  conference  with  him  ;  but  although  the  natives 
came  freely  alongside  the  caravels  in  their  canoes,  and  re 
peated  the  familiar  story  about  their  king  having  gone  on 
only  a  short  journey  and  intending  soon  to  return,  Guaca 
nagari  failed  to  appear.  After  waiting  a  day,  the  squadron 
sailed  to  the  island  of  Tortugas,  where  it  was  becalmed 
over  night,  and  forced  on  the  following  day  by  winds  and  a 
high  sea  to  take  refuge  in  the  mouth  of  the  river  called  by 
the  Admiral  on  his  first  voyage  the  Guadalquivir.  At  last, 
on  Tuesday,  the  2 9th,  Port  St.  Nicholas,  at  the  western  end 
of  Hayti,  was  reached,  and  from  here  the  outlines  of  the 
easternmost  cape  of  Cuba,  that  Alpha  and  Omega  of  the 
Admiral's  former  voyage,  were  faintly  discernible.  Was  it, 
in  truth,  the  beginning  and  the  end  of  the  mighty  continent 
of  Asia,  or  merely  a  rocky  headland  jutting  out  from  a 
lordly  island,  distinguished  from  Hispaniola,  Guadalupe,  and 
Dominica  only  by  its  vaster  size?  This  was  the  problem 
which  he  had  come  to  solve,  and  in  its  solution  he  would 
gladly  adventure  every  ambition  and  hope  of  advantage  that 
he  nourished. 

Leaving  Cape  St.  Nicholas,  adjoining  the  port  of  that 
name,  the  caravels  traversed  the  fifty  or  sixty  miles  which 
separate  the  two  great  islands,  and  approached  the  coast  of 
Cuba  near  the  point  from  which  he  had  sailed  for  Hayti  the 
year  before.  At  that  time  the  Admiral  had,  it  will  be 
remembered,  reached  Point  Maysi  from  the  northern  side 
of  the  island,  and  noted,  on  arriving  there,  that  the  coast 
line  doubled  abruptly  toward  the  west  and  southwest,  in 
which  directions  it  appeared  to  continue  indefinitely.  On 
the  present  voyage  his  interest  lay  wholly  on  the  southern 
side  of  the  island,  for  it  was  to  follow  this  coast  in  its  west 
ward  trend  that  he  had  come.  If,  sooner  or  later,  it  turned 
again  toward  the  north,  he  should  have  discovered  one 
more  island.  If,  on  the  contrary,  it  were  to  lead  him  fur 
ther  and  further  south,  he  should,  in  his  opinion,  have 
reached  the  shores  of  Asia  itself,  and  have  before  him  its 


IDENTIFYING  ASIA.  \6j 

teeming  wealth  and  countless   myriads  of  people,  the  goal 
of  all  his  long  years  of  effort  and  sacrifice. 

Hugging  close  the  coast  line,  the  fleet  sailed  due  west 
for  sixty  or  seventy  miles  without  observing  anything  more 
interesting  than  the  luxuriant  forests  of  the  littoral  and  the 
magnificent  mountain  ranges  of  the  interior.  At  about  this 
distance  from  the  eastern  end  of  the  island  a  harbor  was 
found  whose  narrow  entrance  belied  its  proportions,  for  it 
ran  far  into  the  land.  The  squadron  came  to  anchor  here, 
and  was  soon  surrounded  with  native  canoes  whose  occu 
pants  brought  fish  and  conies  to  barter  with  the  Spaniards. 
The  fame  of  these  astonishing  white  visitors  had  evidently 
crossed  the  island  from  the  northern  shores,  or  else  been 
communicated  from  Hayti,  for  these  Indians  exhibited  a 
friendliness  and  freedom  from  all  fear  which  showed  that  they 
had  learned  something  of  the  favorable  side  of  their  visitors' 
character.  The  vessels  remained  in  this  bay  until  Sunday, 
the  ist  of  May,  and  the  Admiral  exerted  himself  to  learn 
more  of  Cuba  and  its  people,  but  added  little  to  his  knowl 
edge.  Weighing  anchor  he  continued  along  the  coast, 
which  now  became  more  irregular,  being  indented  with  bays 
and  the  mouths  of  considerable  streams.  The  great  sierras 
came  somewhat  nearer  to  the  sea,  and  the  rank  luxuriance 
of  the  forest  growth  bore  witness  to  the  soil's  abounding 
fertility.  From  almost  every  inlet  and  point  the  natives 
put  out  in  their  canoes  and  paddled  out  to  the  caravels, 
bent  on  holding  intercourse  and  traffic  with  the  strangers. 
It  was  a  repetition  of  the  Admiral's  experience  on  his  first 
voyage,  and  the  same  expressions  of  joyful  welcome  and 
admiration  rung  from  the  thronging  Cubans  as  they  came 
near  the  ships.  To  them,  as  to  their  brethren  of  the  north 
ern  shore,  the  Bahamas,  and  Hayti,  these  bearded  new 
comers  were  heavenly  visitants,  —  no  doubt  they  had  been 
so  described  by  the  other  natives  who  had  brought  the  news 
of  their  arrival  a  year  ago,  —  and,  therefore,  all  the  Indians 
had  was  placed  freely  at  the  white  men's  disposal.  In  due 
time  they  were  requited  for  their  hospitality  in  the  approved 
Castilian  style,  being  exterminated  with  a  thoroughness 
which  left  nothing  to  be  desired.  For  the  present,  how- 


1 68        THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

ever,  the  Spaniards  acted  with  justice  and  liberality,  for  the 
Admiral's  orders  were  of  the  strictest  that  nothing  was  to  be 
accepted  without  fitting  compensation  of  beads,  bells,  and 
other  like  trifles,  all  of  which  were  received  by  the  grateful 
Cubans  as  of  celestial  origin.  In  answer  to  the  Admiral's 
persistent  inquiries,  they  could  give  little  information  as  to 
the  extent  of  Cuba,  whether  it  were  island  or  continent,  or 
in  just  what  direction  lay  Mangi  and  Cathay.  Of  the  latter 
Asiatic  province  he  could  learn  nothing ;  but  he  fancied 
that  the  name  of  the  former  one  was  repeated  intelligently 
by  the  natives  and  that  they  indicated  that  it  was  some 
where  beyond.  Of  gold  they  had  little  or  none  and  seemed 
to  care  nothing  for  it ;  but  all  concurred  in  pointing  to  the 
south,  and  saying  that  in  that  quarter  was  a  great  country 
where  was  gold  in  plenty.  So  consistent  and  general  were 
these  affirmations,  that  after  he  had  passed  a  fortnight  on  the 
Cuban  coast  and  reached  a  point  a  little  to  the  east  of 
Cape  Cruz,  the  Admiral  determined  to  steer  due  south 
until  he  came  to  the  land  of  which  he  heard  so  much. 
That  it  was  not  far  off  he  knew,  for  the  Indians  passed 
fearlessly  between  it  and  Cuba  in  their  light  canoes.  They 
called  it  Hamaica,  or  something  that  sounded  like  this,  and 
there  may  have  been,  as  Las  Casas  suggests,  some  thought 
in  the  Admiral's  mind  that  this  was  the  golden  Babeque 
or  Baveca,  of  which  he  had  heard  so  much  on  his  first  voy 
age.  At  all  events,  on  the  i3th  of  May,  he  headed  the  fleet 
directly  away  from  the  Cuban  coast  and  sailed  southward. 
The  voyage  was  not  a  long  one,  for  at  daylight  on  the  fol 
lowing  morning  there  lay  dead  ahead  of  the  fleet  a  colossal 
group  of  mountain  peaks,  rising  in  symmetrical  terraces  from 
the  water's  edge  to  and  beyond  the  heavy  masses  of  vapor 
which  partially  hid  their  crests  from  sight.  It  was  a  repeti 
tion,  on  a  vaster  scale,  of  the  scenic  glories  of  Guadalupe 
and  Dominica,  save  that  the  outlines  of  this  latest  landfall 
were  somewhat  less  angular,  and  there  was  a  languorous 
haze  which  the  islands  of  the  Caribs  did  not  possess.  So 
majestic  was  the  appearance  of  the  island  that  it  seemed 
worthy  of  a  name  of  peculiar  honor,  and  accordingly  the 
Admiral  christened  it  Santiago,  in  homage  to  the  patron 


IDENTIFYING   ASIA.  169 

saint  of  Spain.  A  nearer  approach  to  this  favored  land  only 
revealed  new  beauties,  but  light  winds  kept  the  ships  off 
shore  until  Monday  morning.  The  Admiral  hastened  then 
to  cast  anchor  in  the  first  roadstead  that  offered  a  fair  haven  ; 
but,  on  the  small  boats  attempting  to  land,  they  were  beset 
by  a  numerous  flotilla  of  canoes  which  put  out  from  the 
beach  filled  with  native  warriors  well  armed  with  lances  and 
bows,  who  made  unmistakable  demonstrations  of  hostility. 
Not  wishing  to  provoke  a  conflict,  for  the  Admiral's  orders 
were  positive  against  this,  the  boats  returned  to  the  caravels 
which  weighed  anchor  at  once  and  stood  alongshore  toward 
the  west.  Some  twenty  miles  in  that  direction  they  reached 
a  spacious  harbor,  shaped  like  a  horse-shoe,  to  which  the 
Admiral  gave  the  name  of  Puerto  Bueno.  Anchoring  here, 
the  fleet  encountered  a  reception  similar  to  that  from  which 
it  had  just  escaped.  The  Indians  swarmed  in  their  canoes 
about  the  vessels,  threatening  the  Christians  with  a  fierce 
ness  which  led  the  latter  to  classify  them  rather  with  the 
warlike  cannibals  than  with  the  pacific  peoples  of  Cuba  and 
the  Vega  Real.  So  daring  were  the  Jamaicans  that  the  Ad 
miral  thought  it  necessary  to  give  them  a  realizing  sense  of 
the  white  men's  power,  so  he  directed  a  number  of  cross 
bows  to  be  discharged  into  the  swarm  of  canoes  surrounding 
the  ships.  Half  a  dozen  Indians  were  wounded  by  the 
bolts  which  followed  this  order,  whereupon  their  companions 
gave  up  their  show  of  hostility  and  withdrew  to  a  safe  dis 
tance.  Having  accomplished  his  object,  —  whether  well  or 
ill  depends  upon  the  circumstances  of  the  occasion,  —  the 
Admiral  caused  every  effort  to  be  made,  both  from  the  ships 
and  on  shore  when  his  men  landed,  by  the  offer  of  attractive 
gewgaws  and  constant  exhibitions  of  friendliness,  to  restore 
confidence  among  the  natives  and  establish  peaceable  rela 
tions.  It  did  not  take  long  to  accomplish  this,  and  soon 
the  usual  traffic  was  in  progress,  and  Indians  as  well  as 
Spaniards  were  content  with  the  result.  Great  throngs  of 
the  Jamaicans  visited  the  ships,  and  from  them  some  knowl 
edge  of  their  country  was  picked  up.  They  knew  where  to 
find  gold  and  it  was  plentiful.  Their  country  was  surrounded 
by  water ;  off  yonder,  somewhere  in  the  south  or  west,  was 


I/O        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

another  great  country.  Altogether,  the  sum  of  their  in 
formation  was  not  great,  and  the  Admiral  saw  that  he  was 
as  far  from  Mangi  and  Cathay  as  ever.  He  proposed  sail 
ing  westward  along  the  northern  shore  of  Jamaica  to  learn 
something  more  of  its  size  and  character,  but  before  doing 
so  wished  to  stop  a  serious  leak  which  had  sprung  in  one 
of  his  caravels.  Accordingly,  he  careened  her  on  a  con 
venient  beach  in  the  harbor  where  the  squadron  was  lying, 
and,  while  the  work  was  being  done,  accumulated  a  stock 
of  provisions  from  the  natives,  and  investigated  as  far  as  he 
could  the  country  and  its  people.  Three  or  four  days  were 
passed  at  this  place,  during  which  time  the  best  of  relations 
were  established  with  the  islanders.  When  the  squadron 
resumed  its  cruise,  following  the  coast  towards  the  west,  the 
Indians  put  out  freely  from  points  alongshore  and  accom 
panied  the  vessels,  keeping  up  a  running  traffic  with  the 
sailors  and  displaying  every  demonstration  of  eager  delight. 
It  was  the  experience  of  the  first  voyage  repeated. 

On  approaching  the  western  extremity  of  the  island  a  suc 
cession  of  violent  headwinds  was  encountered  which  forbade 
for  the  present  any  effort  to  continue  the  cruise  towards  the 
south.  The  insular  character  of  Jamaica  was  determined, 
and  nothing  of  immediate  importance  was  to  be  gained  by 
lingering  on  its  shores.  The  Admiral,  therefore,  put  about 
and  laid  his  course  again  for  Cuba,  making  its  coast  on  the 
1 8th  of  May  at  the  cape  now  called  Cruz,  a  little  to  the  west 
of  the  point  whence  he  had  sailed  for  Jamaica.  It  was  his 
purpose  to  continue  his  exploration  of  Cuba  towards  the 
west  for  500  or  600  leagues,  if  need  be,  until  he  had  finally 
discovered  whether  it  was  in  truth  a  part  of  the  Asiatic  con 
tinent,  or  only  the  huge  island  which  some  of  its  natives  had 
affirmed.  As  he  pursued  his  way  the  coast  trended  more 
and  more  to  the  south,  thus  strengthening  the  continental 
theory,  and,  as  day  after  day  passed  without  any  indication  of  a 
northerly  bend,  this  idea  became  well-nigh  a  settled  conviction 
in  the  minds  of  all  on  board  the  three  caravels.  The  difficul 
ties  of  navigation  increased  as  the  voyage  proceeded.  The 
terrific  rain-storms  of  the  tropics,  with  their  violent  bursts  of 
wind,  inky  skies,  incessant  lightning  and  deafening  thunder 


IDENTIFYING  ASIA.  171 

peals,  broke  daily  over  the  undecked  vessels,  threatening  to 
overwhelm  them  between  the  weight  of  water  entering  from 
overhead  and  that  shipped  from  the  tempest-lashed  sea. 
Long  lines  of  dangerous  shoals  beset  their  course,  on  which 
they  would  infallibly  have  been  wrecked  but  for  the  exer 
cise  of  a  laborious  and  constant  vigilance.  The  experience 
was  new  and  alarming  to  all,  for  the  precautions  with  which 
they  were  familiar  seemed  idle  ;  if  they  attempted  to  heave 
to  and  ride  out  the  storms,  they  were  in  peril  of  the  surround 
ing  shoals,  and  if  they  carried  the  sail  necessary  to  avoid 
these,  they  were  liable  to  be  thrown  on  their  beam  ends  by 
the  first  fierce  blast.  In  spite  of  these  obstacles  the  Admiral 
pursued  his  course,  keeping  as  near  the  coast  as  it  was  pru 
dent  and  picking  his  way  through  the  cays  and  shallows  as 
best  he  could.  As  he  got  farther  westward  he  entered  a 
labyrinth  of  small  islands ;  some  were  reefs  awash  with  the 
surface  of  the  water,  others  were  well  wooded  and  inviting. 
This  archipelago  expanded,  as  he  made  his  way  cautiously 
through  its  tortuous  channels,  until,  in  a  single  day,  the 
sailors  counted  160  islets  of  varying  sizes.  Even  the 
Admiral's  fertility  in  name-choosing  was  unequal  to  furnish 
ing  a  distinctive  title  for  each  of  this  infinite  array,  so  he 
called  the  whole  group  The  Queen's  Garden,  as  he  had,  the 
year  before,  called  the  corresponding  group  off  the  northern 
coast  of  Cuba,  the  Garden  of  the  King.  The  slow  rate  of 
progress  to  which  the  vessels  were  necessarily  confined, 
afforded  frequent  occasion  for  landing  on  the  islands,  and 
thus  the  Spaniards  observed  the  strange  animals  and  birds  with 
which  they  abounded.  For  the  same  reason  they  watched 
more  closely  than  was  their  wont  the  countless  varieties  of 
fish  which  swarmed  in  the  narrow  waters,  and  found  a  wel 
come  change  from  their  limited  commissariat  in  the  shoals 
of  turtle  which  floated  sleepily  on  the  water's  surface  or  lay 
idly  on  the  sandy  keys.  As  the  squadron  cleared  the  shoals 
and  entered  the  maze  of  forest-burdened  islets,  the  air  grew 
heavy  with  the  fragrance  of  blossom  and  shrub,  especially  at 
night,  when,  the  day's  storm  being  over  and  the  brilliancy  of 
a  growing  moon  flooding  all  about  them  with  its  grateful  light, 
even  the  rough  seamen  found  some  compensation  for  the 


172        THE   LAST    VOYAGES    OF   THE   ADMIRAL. 

toils  and  perils  of  the  trying  day.  Even  in  the  clearer  chan 
nels  through  which  the  vessels  were  now  threading,  they  were 
exposed  to  constant  risk  of  running  aground,  and,  despite 
double  watches  and  masthead  lookouts,  the  "  Nina  "  drove 
on  a  hidden  bank  and  was  only  warped  off  with  infinite 
patience  and  labor.  Few  of  the  islands  were  inhabited,  and 
on  these  the  population  was  small  and  scattered.  Generally 
the  Indians  showed  no  fear,  approaching  the  caravels  and 
offering  their  fish  or  other  trifling  commodities  with  simple 
hospitality.  On  one  of  the  largest,  —  of  sufficient  importance 
to  be  christened  by  the  not  very  distinctive  name  of  Santa 
Maria,  —  a  village  of  considerable  size  was  found  ;  but  here 
the  natives  took  to  the  woods  at  the  approach  of  the  white 
men,  leaving  their  scanty  possessions  to  be  examined  by  their 
visitors  at  leisure.  To  all  the  natives  encountered  some  gift 
of  beads  or  bells  was  made,  and  nothing  was  taken  from 
them,  even  when  freely  offered,  without  an  equivalent  being 
returned.  For  a  slave-driver,  Columbus  certainly  acted  with 
a  singular  considerateness  in  dealing  with  his  prey. 

The  Indians  of  this  archipelago  united  in  saying  that  it 
spread  out  in  all  directions  away  from  the  mainland  of 
Cuba,  and  was  of  indefinite  extent.  This,  with  a  threatened 
scarcity  of  fresh  water  on  the  vessels,  decided  the  Admiral 
to  return  to  the  Cuban  coast ;  so,  on  the  3rd  of  June,  he 
gradually  worked  his  way  to  the  northward  and  struck  the 
coast  somewhere  about  the  modern  Trinidad  or  Xagua. 
Here  the  forest  was  so  dense,  down  to  the  very  water's  edge, 
that  it  was  impossible  to  ascertain  whether  this  part  of  the 
coast  was  inhabited  or  not.  The  small  boats  were  rowed 
close  alongshore  to  look  for  signs  of  native  habitation,  but 
none  were  discovered  until  a  sailor,  less  fearful  or  more  en 
ergetic  than  his  shipmates,  arming  himself  with  a  cross-bow, 
landed  and  entered  the  woods  to  hunt  birds.  Scarcely  had 
he  disappeared  in  the  thick  jungle  when  his  companions 
heard  him  calling  loudly  for  assistance,  and  hastily  ran  to 
his  rescue.  When  they  arrived  he  was  alone,  but  related 
that  he  had  run  against  a  band  of  some  thirty  Indians, 
stealthily  watching  the  caravels  and  boats  from  behind  the 
curtain  of  trees  and  vines.  All  were  armed  with  wooden 


IDENTIFYING  ASIA.  173 

spears  and  bows  and  arrows,  and  some  carried  in  addition 
great  double-edged  swords  of  heavy  wood.1  One  of  the 
men,  he  affirmed,  was  clad  in  a  long  white  tunic  reaching 
to  the  ground.  They  offered  no  harm  to  the  solitary  invader 
when  he  came  among  them,  but,  at  the  sound  of  his  shouts 
for  aid,  had  instantly  dispersed  and  glided  into  the  trackless 
woods.  The  Spaniards  returned  on  board  ship,  and  related 
their  experience  to  the  Admiral,  who  sent  an  armed  party 
ashore  the  next  day  to  trace  the  fugitives  to  their  home,  if 
possible.  The  detachment  stumbled  through  a  mangrove 
swamp  and  forced  a  painful  way  through  the  matted  under 
growth  for  a  couple  of  miles,  and  came  back  empty-handed 
to  report  the  impracticability  of  conducting  a  pursuit  through 
such  obstacles,  only  to  be  confronted  with  the  jungle-covered 
slopes  of  the  steep  mountains  visible  in  the  distance.  The 
Admiral  accepted  the  result  with  regret,  for  the  story  of  the 
white-clothed  warrior  —  the  only  Indian  thus  hampered 
who  had  been  met  with  in  the  New  World,  so  far  —  had 
revived  his  hope  of  meeting  with  indications  of  higher  civ 
ilization  as  he  pursued  his  western  journey.  It  is,  indeed, 
permissible  to  question  the  absolute  veracity  of  the  Spanish 
sailor  who  made  the  discovery.  It  was  a  golden  opportu 
nity  for  the  lonely  tar  to  exercise  his  active  Andalusian  or 
Basque  imagination,  and  he  should  be  an  exception  to  the 
class  did  he  not,  on  meeting  his  comrades,  draw  with  his 
tongue  a  bow  far  longer  than  the  one  he  carried  in  his  hand. 
Whether  true  or  false,  his  tale  gained  a  ready  credence,  and 
even  in  the  Admiral's  lifetime  the  solitary  Indian  in  his 
alleged  tunic  had  expanded  into  a  whole  race  of  white-robed 
Asiatics.  As  such  it  has  been  the  subject  of  learned  con 
jecture  and  dissertation  in  our  modern  histories,  and  thus  is 
likely  to  remain.  We  give  the  fact  as  Columbus  related  it 
in  his  lost  journal,  and  as  Las  Casas  copied  it  therefrom. 
Still  following  the  coast  towards  the  west,  the  squadron 

1  Las  Casas  describes  these  formidable  weapons  minutely,  and  says 
that  the  Cubans  called  them  macanas.  Similar  arms,  of  the  same 
name,  are  still  common  among  the  more  warlike  tribes  of  the  Amazon 
Basin  and  Guiana,  and  constitute  only  one  of  the  many  links  which 
bind  their  possessors  to  the  Caribes  of  Columbus's  day. 


TIIE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

came  upon  a  village  by  the  seashore,  whose  people  swarmed 
out  in  their  canoes  to  offer  what  they  possessed  in  exchange 
for  the  strangers'  trinkets.  One  of  these  natives  was  kept 
on  board  by  the  Spaniards,  greatly  to  the  distress  of  his 
companions  and  to  his  own  evident  alarm,  in  order  to  learn 
something  of  the  country  which  seemed  to  stretch  so  inter 
minably  beyond  them.  From  him  the  Admiral  gathered 
that  Cuba  was  an  island,  that  the  sea  surrounded  it  on  all 
sides,  that  an  infinite  number  of  smaller  islands  lay  along  its 
shores,  and  that,  in  the  part  of  it  which  he  had  now  reached, 
ruled  a  king  who  never  spoke,  but  indicated  his  wishes  by 
signs  alone.  Moreover,  this  mysterious  potentate  wore  a 
long  robe,  and  some  faint  hope  suggested  itself  to  the 
Admiral's  mind  that  he  might  be  that  famous  Prester  John 
of  whom  such  marvellous  tales  were  told  by  the  few  Euro 
peans  who  had  penetrated  Asia  and  Africa.  The  mere 
thought  was  enough  to  stimulate  him  to  fresh  effort,  and  he 
found  in  this  part  of  his  informant's  story  a  conclusive  refu 
tation  of  that  other  part  which  affirmed  the  insular  character 
of  Cuba.  Who  had  ever  heard  of  an  island  in  connection 
with  this  famous  prince?  Was  he  not  known  to  rule  in  the 
very  heart  of  Asia,  —  somewhere  ?  It  was  worth  a  struggle 
against  every  difficulty  to  reach  such  a  goal.  Continuing 
thus  hopefully  on  his  course,  he  shortly  found  his  vessels 
entangled  amid  treacherous  banks  of  sand,  on  one  of  which 
they  grounded,  despite  the  utmost  caution.  A  scant  fathom 
of  water  covered  this  bar,  which  was  two  ship's-lengths  wide, 
and  there  was  nothing  to  do  but  turn  to  and  warp  the  cara 
vels  off  their  dangerous  berth,  if  it  might  be  done.  The  task 
was  a  difficult  one,  and  for  a  season  it  seemed  as  though  the 
disaster  of  the  Christmas  of  '92  was  to  be  repeated  on  a 
more  fatal  scale ;  but  at  length  the  ships  were  hauled  into 
deep  water  with  no  greater  damage  done  than  the  starting 
of  some  seams.  The  voyage  was  resumed  and  the  fleet 
again  became  entangled  amid  a  maze  of  small  islands  and 
shoals.  The  Admiral  noted  with  interest,  despite  his  perils, 
the  variety  of  animal  life  with  which  both  air  and  water 
abounded  in  this  curious  archipelago.  The  shallow  seas 
swarmed  with  fish  and  turtles ;  dense  flocks  of  pigeons  and 


IDENTIFYING  ASIA.  1/5 

doves  passed  overhead  ;  gulls  and  other  marine  birds  circled 
about  the  vessels  in  countless  numbers ;  and,  on  one  day,  the 
air  was  literally  filled  from  morning  until  night  with  myriads 
of  gaudy  butterflies  drifting  Cuba-wards  in  one  of  the  vast 
migrations  which  herald  the  changing  seasons.  We  know 
all  about  these  things  now,  but  to  the  sailors  of  the  little 
fleet  they  were  marvels.  An  "  island  "  along  one  of  whose 
shores  they  had  been  sailing  for  six  weeks  without  changing 
their  main  direction ;  a  wilderness  of  shoals  and  islets,  the 
like  of  which  they  had  never  so  much  as  heard  of;  a  sea  as 
milk-white  as  that  of  the  Carib  Islands  had  been  sapphire 
blue ;  sea,  land,  and  air  filled  with  strange  shapes  in  multi 
tudes  surpassing  belief,  and  all  these  prodigies  increasing  in 
number  and  degree  as  the  long  westward  journey  continued, 
—  such  were  the  influences  at  work  on  the  minds  of  the 
Admiral's  companions  as  they  slowly  worked  their  vessels 
through  the  tortuous  channels  of  the  island  groups  which 
fringe  the  southwestern  coasts  of  Cuba. 

With  Columbus  himself  other  considerations  weighed 
heavily  against  his  eager  desire  to  set  at  rest  the  nature  of  the 
land  he  had  been  so  patiently  examining  and  the  mysteries  it 
contained.  According  to  his  computations  he  had  sailed  for 
more  than  300  leagues  towards  the  west  from  Cape  Alpha 
and  Omega,  without  discovering  any  indication  of  the  coast 
turning  northwards.  He  was  now,  he  thought,  700  leagues 
west  of  Dominica,  the  most  easterly  of  the  new  lands  he  had 
discovered.  Who  could  conceive,  under  these  circum 
stances,  that  Cuba  was  other  than  the  extremity  of  Asia? 
Who  had  ever  imagined  an  island  a  thousand  miles  long,  or 
an  archipelago  two  thousand  miles  in  width  ?  Moreover,  the 
coast  was  now  trending  more  and  more  to  the  south,  thus 
clearly  demonstrating  the  fact  that  the  country  was  expand 
ing  into  continental  proportions.  What  doubt  remained 
that  Hispaniola,  Jamaica,  Buriquen,  and  the  isles  of  the 
Caribs  were  the  gigantic  islands  said  to  lie  east  of  Asia,  and 
that  Cuba  was  the  easternmost  province  of  that  continent  ? 
He  could,  indeed,  by  proceeding  on  his  voyage,  add  more 
leagues  of  coast  to  those  already  followed ;  but  they  might, 
after  all,  add  nothing  to  his  knowledge,  unless  he  were  pre- 


176        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE   ADMIRAL. 

pared  to  prolong  indefinitely  his  absence  from  Hispaniola, 
and  this  was  far  from  being  the  case.  In  truth,  he  was 
already  painfully  anxious  to  return  and  inform  himself  of  the 
welfare  of  the  colony.  It  was  time  for  some  news  to  be 
arriving  from  Spain ;  Margarite's  expedition  should  be  con 
cluded  by  the  time  the  squadron  reached  Isabella;  the 
building  of  that  town  required  attention,  and,  even  more, 
its  citizens.  All  these  reflections,  the  Admiral  says,  caused  him 
to  pass  days  and  nights  of  painful  thought.  Added  to  these 
were  the  facts  that  the  ships  were  now  dangerously  bare  of 
provisions  of  all  kinds,  that  the  men  were  grumbling  with 
ever-increasing  audacity,  and  that  further  navigation  toward 
the  west  seemed  to  offer  only  a  succession  of  the  same  perils 
from  which  they  had  already  more  than  once  so  narrowly 
escaped.  To  pursue  the  voyage,  in  face  of  these  conditions, 
would  be  to  risk  more  than  would  be  justifiable.  Had  he 
consulted  only  his  own  inclinations,  he  would  have  followed 
the  setting  sun  until  he  had  —  as  he  firmly  believed  he 
should  —  reached  Spain  by  circumnavigating  the  earth.  So 
emphatic  was  his  belief  that  he  had  only  to  skirt  this  pre 
sumedly  Asiatic  coast  for  enough  weeks  and  he  should  arrive 
at  Cadiz,  that  he  formulated  his  itinerary:  " doubling  the 
Golden  Chersonesus,1  crossing  the  Gulf  of  Ganges,  and  by  a 
new  route,  either  around  Africa,  or  going  up  the  Red  Sea 
and  so  overland  to  Joppa  and  Jerusalem,  reach  Spain." 
The  prospect  was  one  of  captivating  brilliancy  to  a  mind 
filled,  as  his  was,  with  grand  schemes  of  geographical  ex 
ploration  and  mystical  dreams  of  ousting  the  Paynim  from 
the  Holy  City.  But  this  was  not  his  present  mission ;  he 
had  left  Isabella  to  discover  the  true  character  of  Cuba,  and 
had  established  beyond  all  possibility  of  cavil  that  it  was 
part  of  some  mainland.  That  this  was  Asia  was,  in  his 
opinion,  a  matter  of  course.  His  duty  fulfilled,  there  was, 
consequently,  every  reason  why  he  should  sacrifice  his  own 
preferences  and  return  to  the  colony  at  Isabella  with  all 
convenient  speed. 

It  was  the  consistent  habit  of  Columbus  to  consult  with 
his  'pilots  and  chief  mariners  on  all  occasions  of  crisis  or 
1  The  Malay  Peninsula  of  our  times. 


IDENTIFYING  ASIA. 


177 


difficulty.  We  find  him  doing  it  frequently  on  the  first 
voyage  of  discovery  and  all  succeeding  ones  ;  he  did  it  now. 
His  own  belief  was  that  Cuba  was  the  eastern  extremity  of 
Asia  ;  he  re-christened,  in  his  diary,  the  cape  formerly  called 
Alpha  and  Omega  —  in  symbolic  reference  to  this  faith  — 
by  the  more  emphatic  title  of  "  End  of  the  Orient."  Every 
indication,  to  his  mind,  confirmed  this  view.  But  some  of 
the  natives,  both  on  the  northern  shore  during  his  first  voy 
age  and  along  this  southern  coast  during  the  present  one, 
had  asserted,  or  seemed  to  assert,  that  Cuba  was  only  an 
other  vast  island.  This,  therefore,  was  the  question  which 
he  determined  to  submit  to  his  skilled  companions :  Was 
this  land  of  Cuba,  in  their  judgment,  an  island  or  not? 
They  had  seen  all  the  other  huge  islands ;  was  this  only 
another  one?  Their  Majesties  of  Spain  had  repeatedly 
urged  the  Admiral  to  satisfy  himself  on  this  score,  and  re 
port  to  them  as  fully  as  possible.  It  was  essential,  in  their 
dispute  with  Portugal,  that  they  should  know  whether  their 
officer  had  indeed  reached  the  eastern  extension  of  the 
oriental  continent.  It  consequently  behooved  Columbus 
to  collect  all  the  evidence  he  properly  could  on  this  vital 
point  before  ceasing  his  exploration.  This  he  accordingly 
proceeded  to  do  in  the  customary  and  established  manner. 

Our  readers  will  no  doubt  recall  the  extreme,  almost  ludi 
crous,  importance  attached  in  all  Spanish  and  most  Latin 
countries  to  the  solemn  notarial  acta.  Among  all  but  the 
most  sophisticated,  it  is  considered  to  rival  the  Tables  of 
Stone  in  its  imperative  force  and  the  Medean  laws  in  its 
inviolability.  Four  hundred  years  ago  it  was  even  more 
revered  than  now ;  and  when,  on  the  morning  of  Thursday, 
the  1 2th  of  June,  1494,  the  Admiral  called  upon  the  royal 
notary,  Fernando  Perez  de  Luna,  to  draw  up  an  acta  as  to 
the  general  opinion  prevalent  in  the  fleet  concerning  Cuba, 
he  was  complying  with  one  of  the  commonest  formalities  of 
his  day  and  station.  N6thing  that  he  or  any  one  else  could 
say  would  have  the  weight  of  such  a  document,  and  the 
notary  present  on  the  flagship  was  there  to  obtain  for  the 
information  of  the  Crown  just  such  official  depositions  con 
cerning  matters  open  to  dispute.  The  notary  was  directed, 


1/8        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

in  this  instance,  to  first  take  the  declarations  of  the  officers 
and  crew  of  the  "Nina,"  and  then  proceed,  in  company 
with  credible  witnesses,  to  the  "  San  Juan  "  and  "Cordera," 
and  take  the  opinions  of  those  ships'  companies.  Before 
doing  so  he  was  obliged,  by  law,  to  read  the  demand  or 
requisition  made  upon  him  by  the  Admiral,  so  that  all  who 
were  questioned  should  have  full  knowledge  of  what  they 
were  expected  to  answer.  As  this  portion  of  the  paper 
contains  the  deliberate  asseveration  by  sixty-five  men,  in 
cluding  some  of  the  foremost  navigators  and  seamen  of  the 
time,  that  the  island  of  Cuba  was  part  of  the  continent  of 
Asia,  and  as  it  gives  the  arguments  which  satisfied  Colum 
bus  himself,  it  will  bear  translating. 

"  On  board  the  caravel  i  Nina,'  which  is  also  called  the  l  Santa 
Clara,1  Thursday,  the  I2th  of  June,  in  the  year  of  Our  Lord's 
Birth  1494,  the  most  noble  Senor  Don  Christopher  Columbus, 
High  Admiral  of  the  Ocean  Sea,  Viceroy  and  Perpetual  Gov 
ernor  of  the  island  of  San  Salvador  and  of  all  the  other  islands 
and  mainland  of  the  Indies,  discovered  or  to  be  discovered,  etc., 
etc.,  demanded  of  me,  Fernando  Perez  de  Luna,  one  of  the  no 
taries  public  of  the  city  of  Isabella,  on  behalf  of  their  Majesties, 
[to  bear  witness]  : 

"  That  he  had  sailed  from  the  said  city  of  Isabella  with  three 
caravels  to  come  and  discover  the  mainland  of  the  Indies  ;  for, 
although  he  had  already  discovered  a  part  of  it  on  the  other 
voyage  which  he  made  here  the  last  year  of  our  Lord,  1493  [sic], 
he  was  not  able  to  learn  definitely  concerning  it,  since,  notwith 
standing  that  he  had  remained  a  long  time  upon  its  coasts,  he 
found  nobody  who  could  give  him  positive  information,  as  all 
the  people  were  naked,  having  no  property  or  society,  being  a 
folk  who  do  not  go  away  from  their  homes  and  are  visited  by 
none  others,  according  to  what  he  was  told  by  themselves ;  for 
which  reason  he  did  then  not  affirm  positively  that  it  was  the 
mainland,  but  pronounced  the  matter  doubtful  and  called  the 
country  Juana  in  memory  of  Prince  John,  our  sovereign  ; 

"  That  he  has  now  sailed  from  the  said  city  of  Isabella  on  the 
24th  of  April  and  arrived  at  that  part  of  the  said  country  of 
Juana  which  lies  nearest  to  the  island  of  Isabella  [sic]  and  which 
is  shaped  like  a  gore  running  from  east  to  west,  with  the  point 
at  the  end  towards  Isabella,  from  which  it  is  twenty-two  leagues 
distant ;  that  he  has  followed  the  coast  of  this  country  towards  the 


IDENTIFYING  ASIA.  179 

west,  on  the  side  of  the  south,  to  reach  a  very  large  island  called 
Jamaica  by  the  Indians,  and  has  found  it  after  sailing  a  great 
distance ;  that  he  named  this  the  island  of  Santiago  and  fol 
lowed  its  whole  coast  from  east  to  west,  returning  afterwards  to 
the  mainland,  which  he  calls  Juana,  at  the  place  whence  he  had 
departed ;  that  he  followed  the  coast  of  this  latter  country  west 
ward  for  many  days,  until  he  declares  that,  by  his  rules  of  navi 
gation,  he  has  sailed  more  than  335  leagues  from  the  time  he 
first  struck  it  until  now ;  that  on  this  course  he  has  recognized 
many  times,  and  so  proclaimed,  that  this  was  the  mainland,  both 
because  of  its  shape  and  of  the  information  he  has  acquired  con 
cerning  it  and  the  name  of  the  people  of  the  provinces,  espe 
cially  the  province  of  Mango ;  that  now,  after  having  found 
countless  islands,  which  no  one  can  accurately  number,  and 
arrived  here  at  a  village,  he  has  taken  several  Indians  who  have 
told  him  that  the  coast  of  this  country  continues  toward  the 
west  for  more  than  twenty  days'  journey,  and  they  do  not  know 
whether  it  ends  even  there ;  that  from  that  point  he  determined 
to  continue  on  somewhat  farther,  so  that  the  people  on  these 
vessels  —  among  whom  are  masters  skilled  in  sailing  by  the 
charts  and  very  good  pilots,  the  most  famous  which  he  could 
choose  from  among  those  of  the  large  fleet  he  brought  from 
Spain  —  should  see  how  very  great  is  this  country  and  that 
from  here  its  coast  runs  toward  the  south,  as  he  had  told  them ; 
that  he  therefore  sailed  on  for  four  days'  journey  more,  so  that 
all  might  be  very  sure  that  it  was  terra  firma,  —  for  in  all  these 
islands  and  countries  there  is  no  town  on  the  seashore,  but  only 
naked  people  who  live  upon  fish,  who  never  go  inland,  or  even 
four  leagues  from  their  houses,  or  know  what  the  world  is  like 
but  believe  that  it  is  made  up  of  islands,  —  a  race  without  law 
or  belief  of  any  kind,  except  to  be  born  and  die,  and  who  have 
no  education  by  which  they  may  learn  aught  of  the  world ; 

"  Therefore,  in  order  that  when  this  voyage  is  finished  no  one 
shall  have  cause  through  malice  either  to  speak  evil  or  slight 
ingly  of  things  which  deserve  great  credit,  the  said  Admiral  has 
required  of  me,  the  said  notary,  as  above  recited,  on  behalf  of 
their  Majesties,  that  I  should  go  personally,  with  faithful  wit 
nesses,  on  board  each  of  the  said  three  caravels,  and  should 
demand  of  the  master  and  crew  and  all  other  persons  who  are 
aboard  them  that  they  publicly  declare  whether  they  have  any 
doubt  that  this  is  the  mainland  at  the  beginning  of  the  Indies, 
or  its  end  for  any  one  who  should  desire  to  come  into  these 
parts  overland  from  Spain ;  and,  if  there  should  be  among  them 
any  doubt  or  contrary  belief,  that  I  should  ask  them  to  declare 


180        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

it,  so  that  it  might  be  set  at  rest,  and  they  should  be  shown  that 
this  is  true  and  that  it  is  indeed  the  mainland.  And  I  have  thus 
done  and  have  demanded  publicly/1  etc. 

The  notary  then  recites  in  detail  the  question  he  put  to 
each  officer  or  sailor  individually,  and  their  sworn  answers. 
To  quote  one  of  these  replies,  for  all :  — 

"The  pilots,  masters,  and  seamen,  after  studying  their  sea 
charts,  reflected  and  said  as  follows  :  Francisco  Nino,  townsman 
of  Moguer,  pilot  of  the  caravel  '  Nina,1  declares  by  the  oath  he 
has  taken  that  he  has  never  heard  of  or  seen  an  island  which 
could  be  335  leagues  in  length  on  one  coast,  from  west  to  east, 
and  its  exploration  even  not  yet  ended ;  that  he  sees  now  the 
coast  turning  S.SW.,  West,  and  SW.,  and  assuredly  has  no 
doubt  that  this  is  the  mainland,  and  no  island ;  and  that  before 
going  many  leagues  along  this  coast  a  country  would  be  found 
where  civilized  people  live,  who  know  what  the  world  is,"  etc. 

The  master  of  the  "  Nina,"  Alonzo  Medel,  Juan  de  la 
Cosa,  her  famous  chart  navigator,  and  seventeen  seamen 
and  sailors  made  similar  affirmation.  So  did  Bartolome" 
Perez,  pilot  of  the  "  San  Juan,"  Alonzo  Perez  Roldan,  her 
master,  and  Alonzo  Rodriguez,  her  first  mate,  together  with 
twelve  of  their  crew.  So  did  Cristobal  Perez  Nino,  master, 
Fenerin  Ginoves,  mate,  and  Gonzalo  Alonzo  Galeote,  chief 
seaman,  of  the  "  Cordera,"  with  all  of  her  crew,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  half-dozen  witnesses.  The  name,  birth 
place,  and  station  of  each  deponent  are  given,  and  each  in 
his  turn  makes  a  declaration  identical  with  that  of  the 
"  Nina's "  pilot ;  and  at  no  subsequent  time,  even  when 
such  assertion  would  have  brought  profit  and  applause,  did 
any  one  of  them  claim  that  he  had  been  deceived  by 
Columbus. 

So  far  as  such  a  "  round  robin  "  could  have  weight,  this 
was  one  without  a  flaw.  It  was  not  the  first  of  its  kind,  'as 
its  cut  and  dried  phraseology  abundantly  indicates  ;  it  surely 
was  not  the  last,  for  even  comparatively  modern  voyagers 
have  availed  themselves  of  much  the  same  kind  of  con 
sensus.  But  it  was  proposed  by  Columbus  and  prepared 
for  him,  and,  hence,  in  the  judgment  of  his  critics,  bristles 
with  fraud,  hypocrisy,  and  tyranny.  The  notary,  in  closing 


IDENTIFYING   ASIA.  l8l 

his  formal  period,  invokes  the  ancient  penalties  for  per 
jury  :  "  and  I  have  imposed  the  fine  of  10,000  maravedies 
for  each  time  that  any  one  should  in  the  future  say  the  con 
trary  of  what  he  now  swears,  and  he  shall  have  his  tongue 
cut  out ;  and  if  he  is  a  sailor  or  person  of  that  class  he  shall 
receive  a  hundred  lashes  and  also  have  his  tongue  cut  out." 
The  Admiral  had  nothing  to  do  with  this  ostensibly  san 
guinary  provision ;  the  notary  included  it  in  his  acta  as  an 
obligatory  recitation.  He  threatened  to  mutilate  the  per 
jurers,  not  Columbus.  Just  how  he  was  going  to  cut  out 
their  tongues  the  second  time  is  not  clear,  or  how  they  were 
to  repeat  their  offence  when  already  tongueless.  Nor  does 
it  matter  that  the  whole  threat  was  an  empty  piece  of  what 
the  Spaniards  would  term  "of  course,"  —  a  relic  of  still  ruder 
days  to  which  no  one  paid  less  heed  than  did  the  worthy 
notary,  who  was  obliged  to  paddle  from  one  ship  to  another, 
between  the  showers,  to  take  the  tiresome  testimony  of 
these  wooden-headed  mariners  from  Palos,  Huelva,  Moguer, 
and  every  port  between  Fuentarabia  and  Rosas  Gulf.  It 
was  enough  that  the  acta  was  in  support  of  the  Admiral's 
own  convictions  and  hopes  for  it  to  excite  a  tempest  of 
denunciation  among  his  recent  censors.  In  using  this  means 
of  certification,  we  are  told  "  Columbus  committed  himself 
to  the  last  resort  of  deluded  minds  when  dealing  with  geo 
graphical  or  historical  problems."  His  conduct  was  "  auda 
cious  and  arrogant."  He  "  forced  his  men  to  sign  a  paper 
expressing  the  same  belief"  as  he  held  concerning  Cuba, 
and  so  on,  and  so  on.1  We  may  admit,  without  argument, 
that  Columbus  did  vacillate  sadly  on  this  point ;  that  some 
times  he  understood  the  Indians  to  say  that  Cuba  was  an 
island,  and  gave  them  unwilling  credence ;  and  again  gath 
ered  with  joy  from  their  gestures  and  jargon  that  it  was  of 
boundless  extent,  and  earnestly  impressed  upon  all  about 
him  this  supposed  confirmation  of  his  own  hopes.  Beyond 
all  dispute,  had  he  possessed  a  reliable  atlas  of  the  West 
Indies  and  the  American  continent,  such  hesitation  would 

1  Yet  these  same  writers  see  nothing  to  criticise  in  the  same  claim 
when  made  by  Cabot  two  years  later,  who  believed  that  he  had  seen 
the  shores  of  Tartary  when  off  Labrador. 


1 82        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

have  implied  great  mental  obtuseness,  and  his  endeavor  to 
persuade  others  that  Cuba  was  the  mainland  of  Asia  would 
have  merited  most  of  the  violent  criticism  it  has  received. 
But,  under  the  circumstances  as  they  existed,  there  really 
seems  to  have  been  a  reasonable  excuse  for  his  course  ;  and 
those  of  my  readers  who  have  tried  to  gain  an  exact  knowl 
edge  of  their  surroundings,  among  untrodden  wilds  or  un- 
navigated  waters,  from  savages  speaking  an  only  partially 
comprehensible  tongue,  will  sympathize  rather  with  the 
Admiral  in  his  dilemmas  than  with  his  critics. 

While  these  depositions  were  being  recorded  by  the 
notary  the  three  caravels  were  lying  at  anchor  at  the  west 
ern  extremity  of  what  we  now  call  the  Gulf  of  Batabano 
on  the  southwestern  coast  of  Cuba.  From  the  repeated 
references  in  the  acta  and  elsewhere  to  the  direction  taken 
by  the  prolongation  of  this  coast  as  seen  from  the  vessels, 
Humboldt  has  established  with  his  customary  acumen  the 
fact  that  they  were  in  all  probability  then  lying  in  the  iden 
tical  bay  which  Cortez,  in  1519,  appointed  as  the  rendezvous 
for  his  armada  and  whence  he  sailed  upon  his  expedition 
against  Mexico.  Columbus  himself,  at  one  time,  was  almost 
persuaded  that  it  was  the  veritable  Gulf  of  the  Ganges,  on 
account  of  its  myriad  islands.  It  proved  to  be  the  western 
limit  of  his  present  voyage,  for  on  the  following  day,  June 
1 3th,  influenced  by  the  motives  we  have  stated,  he  reluctantly 
abandoned  the  prosecution  of  his  westward  cruise  and  led 
the  way  toward  the  south,  with  the  intent  of  escaping  the 
tangle  of  shoals  and  islands  in  which  he  was  involved  and 
finding  an  open  sea  for  his  eastward  run  back  to  Hispaniola. 
He  steered  first  for  an  island  of  greater  size  than  its  fellows, 
where  he  provided  his  vessels  with  wood,  water,  and  such 
poor  supplies  of  native  food  as  it  might  afford.  To  this 
island  he  gave  the  name  of  Evangelista,  but  it  stands  on 
our  maps  as  the  Isle  of  Pines.  After  leaving  it,  the  vessels 
slowly  felt  there  way  for  ten  days  through  a  maze  of  blind 
leads,  now  grounding,  now  threatened  with  wreck  on  some 
bank  to  leeward  in  the  sudden  squalls  of  the  afternoons, 
until  the  crews  became  disheartened  and  sullen,  and  their 
commander  could  with  difficulty  infuse  into  them  any  of  his 


IDENTIFYING  ASIA.  183 

own  persistent  courage.  At  the  end  of  this  time  they  had 
to  return  baffled  to  Evangelista  and  make  a  fresh  start. 
They  succeeded  now  in  getting  clear  of  the  tortuous  chan 
nels,  but  found  themselves  in  shallow  seas  whose  unfamiliar 
colors, — vivid  green,  milky  white,  inky  black,  —  shifting 
with  startling  abruptness  and  frequency,  added  a  new  terror 
to  the  sailors'  minds  in  their  constant  menace  of  imminent 
destruction.  On  the  3Oth  of  June,  while  the  Admiral  was 
writing  in  his  cabin,  his  flagship  drove  hard  and  fast  on  a 
shoal.  Se  firmly  was  she  held  by  the  greedy  sands  that 
the  staunch  little  "  Nina  "  wellnigh  shared  the  fate  of  her 
quondam  consort,  the  "  Santa  Maria  "  ;  but  by  dint  of  much 
ingenuity  and  exertion  she  was  lifted  over  the  narrow  bank 
and  launched  in  safety  on  the  farther  side,  with  her  timbers 
badly  sprung  from  the  merciless  pounding  to  which  her  hull 
had  been  subjected.  Soon  after  they  made  the  Cuban 
coast  at  the  point  from  which  they  had  sailed  after  return 
ing  from  Jamaica,  and  thence  proceeded  eastwards  along 
shore.  At  one  place,  where  a  native  village  was  built  close 
to  the  beach,  the  Admiral  landed  to  hear  Mass  on  Sunday, 
July  6th.  An  old  cacique,  who  watched  with  keen  interest 
the  white  men's  ceremonies,  at  their  conclusion  offered 
Columbus  a  calabash  filled  with  fruits  as  a  token  of  amity. 
Squatting  then  upon  his  heels,  he  made  an  address  to  the 
Admiral  which  Diego,  the  interpreter,  translated  into  as 
philosophical  a  disquisition  on  immortality  and  the  future 
life  as  Socrates  delivered  in  prison.  To  this  his  auditor 
replied  in  becoming  phrase,  agreeing  in  the  main  with  his 
theological  propositions  and  explaining  that  his  own  motive 
in  visiting  Cuba  and  the  adjacent  islands  was  to  benefit  their 
inhabitants,  especially  by  ridding  them  of  their  dreaded 
Carib  invaders.  We  are  informed  that  the  venerable  chief 
tain  received  these  assurances  with  tears  of  joy,  and  the  affect 
ing  incident  was  brought  to  a  close  by  a  brisk  interchange 
of  gifts.  What  the  old  Indian  really  did  say  it  is,  of  course, 
idle  to  conjecture ;  but  we  may  safely  assume  that  it  was 
not  the  Platonic  discourse  which  the  interpreter  supposed, 
and  which  has  excited  so  much  edifying  commentary  from 
the  days  of  Peter  Martyr  down. 


1 84       THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

After  leaving  this  anchorage,  the  fleet  encountered  a  suc 
cession  of  gales  which  nearly  ended  its  career.  The  seas 
continually  shipped  by  the  little  vessels,  especially  over  the 
low  freeboard  they  presented  amidships,  kept  all  hands  toil 
ing  at  the  pumps ;  while  the  scanty  rations  were  still  further 
reduced  until  each  man's  daily  allowance,  except  when  a 
few  fish  could  be  caught,  was  a  pound  of  spoiled  biscuit  and 
a  half-pint  of  watered  wine.  These  harassing  experiences 
persisted  until  the  i8th  of  July,  when  the  voyagers  arrived 
at  the  Cape  of  the  Cross,  where  the  natives  supplied  them 
abundantly  with  cassava,  fruits,  and  fish.  After  resting  here 
two  or  three  days,  the  Admiral  resumed  his  homeward 
cruise,  only  to  be  met  with  such  stubborn  headwinds  that 
he  was  blown  off  his  course  and  was  glad  to  make  for  the 
western  extremity  of  Jamaica.  The  occasion  being  propi 
tious,  he  decided  to  sail  around  this  island,  and  accord 
ingly  doubled  its  western  cape  and  followed  its  coast  toward 
the  south  and  east.  After  the  fatigues  and  perils  of  the 
past  weeks,  the  Admiral  and  his  companions  fairly  revelled 
in  the  majestic  beauty  of  the  varied  panorama  which  un 
folded  as  they  swept  along  the  apparently  well-peopled 
shores.  The  natives  thronged  in  their  canoes  from  bay 
and  headland,  proffering  the  Spaniards  food  and  fruits  "  as 
though  they  all  were  the  fathers  and  the  Indians  their  sons." 
The  Admiral  himself,  freed  from  his  recent  distressing  cares, 
allows  his  love  of  Nature  to  have  full  play,  and  dwells  with 
delight  on  the  fertility  of  the  soil,  the  numbers  and  frank 
disposition  of  the  inhabitants,  and  the  evident  comfort  in 
which  they  lived.  He  notes  that  some  of  the  loftiest  moun 
tains  seem  to  attain  a  height  sufficient  to  ensure  snows  in 
the  proper  season,  and  attributes  the  heavy  rains  he  encoun 
tered  to  the  dense  and  extensive  forests  which  clothed  their 
flanks ;  "  for  in  the  past  the  same  thing  happened  in  the 
Canaries,  Madeira,  and  the  Azores,"  he  remarks  ;  "  but  after 
the  forests  had  been  cut  down  and  the  vapors  were  dried  up 
and  dispersed,  the  heavy  rainfalls  in  great  measure  came  to 
an  end." 

Landing  frequently  as  he  pursued  his  voyage,  and  main 
taining  the  most  cordial  relations  with  the  Indians  every- 


IDENTIFYING  ASIA. 


I85 


where,  he  reached  the  eastern  extremity  of  Jamaica  on  the 
1 9th  of  August,  and  called  it  Beacon  Cape.  The  wind  serv 
ing  for  Hispaniola,  he  put  out  to  sea  at  once,  and  on  the 
following  day  was  in  sight  of  the  western  point  of  that 
island,  which  he  christened  Cape  St.  Michael  and  we  know 
as  Tiburon. 


X. 

THE    REVOLT   OF   THE   TRIBES. 

WHEN  he  bestowed  its  name  on  Cape  St.  Michael,  the 
Admiral  did  not  know  that  it  was  part  of  Hispan- 
iola;  it  was  so  far  to  the  west  and  south  of  Cape  St.  Nicholas 
that  he  at  first  thought  it  was  part  of  another  island.  But 
as  he  lay  at  anchor,  the  day  after  making  land,  a  canoe- 
load  of  Indians  came  alongside  the  flagship  and  their  leader 
called  out  "Admiral,  Admiral,"  in  good  Spanish,  following 
the  words  with  a  flood  of  native  gutturals.  Columbus  was 
hugely  delighted  at  this  occurrence,  for  he  gathered  there 
from  not  only  that  he  was  again  in  Hispaniola,  but  that,  in 
his  absence,  the  expedition  he  had  sent  out  under  Margarite 
had  penetrated  to  the  western  confines  of  the  island  and,  as 
he  presumed,  met  with  no  opposition.  He  determined  to 
sail  along  the  southern  coast,  rather  than  return  by  the 
northern  route  around  Cape  St.  Nicholas,  and,  if  the  winds 
served,  make  a  descent  on  the  chief  villages  of  the  cannibals 
in  Guadalupe  and  Dominica  for  the  purpose  of  impressing 
them  with  the  power  of  the  Spanish  arms.  This  project  was 
doubtless  based  upon  the  expectation  that  by  this  season  the 
Carib  men  should  have  returned  from  the  forays  on  which 
they  had  gone  when  he  landed  on  their  islands  a  year  be 
fore,  and  that  it  would  redound  greatly  to  the  credit  of  the 
Spaniards,  in  the  estimation  of  the  other  native  tribes,  if 
such  a  lesson  were  inflicted  upon  their  dreaded  invaders. 
That  he  should  have  contemplated  doing  anything  of  the 
sort  with  the  petty  force  at  his  disposal  is  a  striking  instance 
of  the  supreme  confidence  the  Europeans  felt,  both  then  and 
1 86 


THE  REVOLT   OF   THE    TRIBES.  ig/ 

always,  in  their  superiority  over  the  aborigines  of  the  west 
ern  world.  Coasting  leisurely  to  the  eastward  and  studying 
the  country  as  he  passed,  the  Admiral  reached  on  the  3oth 
of  August  a  lonely  islet,  which  he  called  Alta  Vela,  from  a 
fancied  resemblance  to  a  hoisted  sail.  Here  he  had  to  wait 
a  week  for  his  two  consorts,  which  had  become  separated 
from  him  by  a  sudden  tempest.  Thence  they  passed  to  an 
island  he  called  Beata,  which  is  off  the  point  of  the  same 
name  about  midway  between  Capes  Tiburon  and  Engano. 
From  here  he  sailed  into  the  Bay  of  Azua,  whose  level  shores 
opened  into  wide  and  thickly  populated  savannahs  corre 
sponding  closely  with  the  great  Vega  Real  on  the  northern 
coast.  Wherever  the  fleet  touched  the  natives  came  off  in 
their  canoes  with  gifts  and  friendly  greetings,  and  from  them 
the  Admiral  learned  much  concerning  the  condition  of  the 
colony  at  Isabella  and  the  extent  to  which  the  scouting-par- 
ties  had  scoured  the  country.  One  band  of  Spaniards,  it 
appeared,  had  come  overland  from  Isabella  to  the  very  coasts 
where  the  fleet  now  was;  so  when  he  reached  the  River 
Hayna,  not  far  from  the  present  city  of  San  Domingo,  the 
Admiral  landed  a  detachment  of  nine  men,  who  were  to 
cross  the  country  to  Isabella,  bearing  news  of  his  welfare 
and  intended  early  arrival  at  that  port.  The  tidings  given 
him  by  the  Indians  respecting  the  colony  were  uniformly 
favorable,  so  that  his  anxieties  as  to  what  had  befallen  it 
since  his  departure  were  to  a  great  extent  relieved. 

Without  further  incident  of  interest  the  southeastern  end 
of  Hispaniola  was  reached,  but  here  the  voyagers  met  with 
a  reception  much  like  that  the  Admiral  had  suffered  in  Sam- 
ana  Bay  on  the  first  voyage.  When  the  ships'  boats  landed 
for  water  the  natives  poured  down  upon  the  Spaniards, 
brandishing  their  bows  and  lances  and  shaking  cords  to  inti 
mate  that  they  would  capture  and  bind  the  strangers  if  they 
approached.  By  the  display  of  gifts  and  a  friendly  dispo 
sition  a  conflict  was  averted,  and  when  the  Indians  learned 
that  it  was  the  Guamiquina  in  person  who  was  on  their 
shores  they  hastened  to  bring  food  and  water  in  abundance 
with  every  indication  of  cordiality.  From  their  warlike 
bearing  and  superior  weapons,  as  compared  with  the  tribes 


1 88        THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

farther  west,  and  especially  from  their  possession  of  poi 
soned  arrows,  Columbus  argued  that  they  were  of  the  same 
hardy  clan  as  the  courageous  warriors  of  Samana,  and  treated 
them  with  marked  consideration.  It  is  worth  noting,  in 
turn,  that  although  only  four  months  had  elapsed  since  he 
had  left  Isabella,  and  the  colony  had  not  more  than  four  or 
five  hundred  men  who  were  capable  of  undertaking  any 
severe  exertion,  the  Spaniards  had  spread  so  far  beyond  the 
narrow  radius  of  forty  or  fifty  miles,  within  which  they  had 
moved  up  to  the  time  of  the  Admiral's  leaving  them,  that 
on  his  return  he  found  his  title  and  power  recognized  from 
one  end  of  the  island  to  the  other,  a  distance  of  four  hun 
dred  miles.  Had  their  energy  been  governed  by  a  policy 
in  which  humanity  and  wisdom  were  one,  the  white  men 
would  have  made  a  different  history  for  the  noble  islands 
they  so  easily  overran. 

Leaving  the  pacified  inhabitants  of  Higuey, —  for  so 
their  territory  was  termed, —  the  fleet  made  for  Cape  En- 
gano, —  or,  as  Columbus  had  christened  it  in  June  of  '94, 
Cape  St.  Raphael, —  intending  to  steer  thence  for  Porto 
Rico  and  the  Carib  Islands  before  returning  to  Isabella. 
From  various  indications  of  sea  and  sky,  and  especially 
from  the  excited  antics  of  a  huge  devil-fish  which  rose  to 
the  surface  and  threw  itself  about  in  a  frenzied  manner, 
the  Admiral  anticipated  severe  weather  and  accordingly 
sought  for  a  haven.  The  rising  storm  separated  the  vessels, 
but  the  "  Nina  "  found  shelter  under  the  lee  of  Saona  Island, 
off  the  southeastern  extremity  of  Hispaniola.  The  gale 
and  subsequent  contrary  winds  lasted  a  week,  at  the  end  of 
which  time  the  "San  Juan"  and  "Cordera"  rejoined  their 
consort,  a  good  deal  the  worse  for  the  buffeting  they  had 
received.  While  lying  at  anchor  Columbus  succeeded  in 
taking  a  satisfactory  observation  of  an  eclipse  of  the  moon, 
which  occurred  on  the  i5th  of  September.  From  the  ele 
ments  thus  secured  he  deduced  the  calculation  that  there 
was  a  difference  of  five  hours  and  twenty-three  minutes  in 
time  between  his  position  and  Cadiz.  To  this  eclipse,  with 
an  admixture  of  astronomy  and  meteorology  characteristic 
of  the  day,  he  also  attributed  the  duration  and  violence  of 


THE  REVOLT   OF   THE    TRIBES.  189 

the  tempest  which  had  overtaken  him, —  a  conclusion  in 
which  he  was  no  doubt  supported  by  the  Ephemerides  from 
which  his  data  were  derived.  From  Saona  the  fleet  steered 
for  Cape  Engano  and  thence  passed  to  the  island  of  Mona, 
about  midway  between  Hispaniola  and  Porto  Rico.  From 
Mona  a  course  was  laid  for  the  latter  island,  and  the  vessels 
had  all  but  reached  its  coast  when,  without  any  premonition 
of  the  approaching  calamity,  the  Admiral  was  stricken  with 
a  profound  coma  and  fell  to  the  deck  as  though  dead.  His 
affrighted  companions  gave  him  such  attention  as  they 
thought  efficacious,  but  he  lay  in  such  a  lifeless  stupor  that 
they  did  not  expect  to  see  him  survive  the  day.  In  this 
emergency  they  put  about  ships  and  headed  again  for  the 
shores  of  Hispaniola.  Their  commander  continued  in  the 
same  deathlike  trance  for  day  after  day,  without  a  movement 
or  sign  of  intelligence, as  they  rounded  the  Samana  Point 
and  steered  for  Isabella;  and  when,  on  the  2Qth  of  Septem 
ber,  the  three  caravels  entered  that  harbor  and  came  to 
anchor  below  the  town,  it  was  little  better  than  a  corpse  that 
Don  Diego  Columbus  and  his  newly  arrived  brother,  Don 
Bartholomew,  found  when  they  hastened  to  greet  the  Admiral 
and  Viceroy.  For  two  and  thirty  nights  in  succession  this 
indefatigable  sailor  had  kept  the  deck  in  the  perilous  navi 
gation  among  the  Cuban  shoals,  besides  sharing  by  day  the 
labors  of  his  shipmates  and  their  scanty  fare.  The  constant 
demands  upon  his  attention  and  interest  when  coasting 
Jamaica  and  Hispaniola  had  prevented  his  getting  any  ade 
quate  rest  later  on.  Now  Nature  had  imposed  her  inevita 
ble  penalty,  and  it  was  an  open  question  whether  or  not  he 
should  be  spared  the  distresses  of  the  future  years  by  ending 
his  career  then  and  there. 

Had  he  never  regained  consciousness,  but  passed  away 
in  the  narrow  cabin  of  the  "Nina"  or  in  his  half-com 
pleted  "palace"  at  Isabella,  the  fame  of  Columbus  would, 
perhaps,  have  been  none  the  less,  while  the  limitations  of 
his  character  would  not  have  been  so  sharply  denned  as 
they  were  by  subsequent  events.  The  close  of  this  cruise 
to  Cuba  and  Jamaica  marked,  in  fact,  a  distinct  epoch  in 
the  Admiral's  life.  It  rounded  off  his  discoveries  of  the 


1 90        THE   LAST    VOYAGES    OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

colossal  islands  to  which  the  older  world,  in  its  confusion 
of  ideas,  variously  referred  as  Antillia,  the  parts  of  India 
beyond  the  Ganges,  Ophir,  and  Cipango.  He  had  set  at 
rest  the  fluctuating  speculations  which  the  Middle  Ages  had 
inherited  from  Antiquity,  and  fitted  the  missing  half  of  our 
sphere  to  the  one  with  which  mankind  was  familiar.  We 
say  advisedly  that  he  had  done  this,  for  had  his  life  closed 
in  September,  1494,  any  one  of  the  pilots,  masters,  or  mari 
ners  who  had  manned  the  fleet  he  brought  from  Spain 
could,  and  some  of  them  would,  have  found  the  continent 
which  lay  so  near.  This  was  the  inevitable  sequel  to  the 
work  Columbus  had  already  performed.  Nothing  but  the 
absolute  and  contemporaneous  annihilation  of  every  soul 
who  had  accompanied  him  could  now  prevent  such  a  con 
summation.  From  Dominica  to  Jamaica  and  the  western 
end  of  Cuba  the  Caribbean  Sea  was  open  to  the  Spaniards, 
and  they  had  heard  from  scores  of  sources  that  populous 
and  wealthy  countries  lay  to  the  south,  west,  and  north. 
Here  were  both  direction  and  inducement.  It  was  merely 
a  question  of  a  year  or  two,  more  or  less,  when  some  one 
should  reach  these  goals.  The  Indians  made  the  passage 
in  their  great  canoes,  and  what  they  did  with  paddles  surely 
Europeans  might  be  expected  to  do  with  sails.  In  a  word, 
the  book  was  open  for  whomsoever  had  the  desire  and  the 
means  to  read.  Whether  Columbus  was  right  or  wrong  in 
conjecturing  Hayti  to  be  Cipango,  and  Cuba  the  Asiatic 
mainland,  was  immaterial.  When  his  three  caravels  sailed 
into  the  port  of  Isabella  with  their  unconscious  comman 
der,  all  that  was  essential  in  the  problem  of  western  naviga 
tion  had  been  solved.  An  otherwise  niggard  fate  did, 
indeed,  later  on,  allow  the  Admiral  to  be  the  actual  dis 
coverer  of  the  southern  continent,  as  he  had  been  of  the 
great  western  world  of  which  it  was  a  part;  but  from  our 
point  of  view  his  discovery  of  Paria  was  only  an  interest 
ing  incident  in  his  career,  not  an  element  of  his  fame. 

Several  days  elapsed  before  Columbus  regained  the  full 
use  of  his  faculties.  When  he  was  able  to  recognize  those 
about  him,  and  saw  in  their  number  the  stalwart  form  of 
his  brother  Bartholomew,  his  joy  knew  no  bounds;  for  this 


THE  REVOLT   OF   THE    TRIBES.  191 

was  a  man  after  his  own  heart.     The  last  time  the  brothers 
had  met  was  in  the  trying  days  when,  wearied  with  his 
ineffectual  efforts  to  obtain  the  assistance  of  the  Spanish 
Crown,  Columbus  turned  to  the  other  courts  of  Europe  for 
the  aid  he  needed  to  prosecute  his  plans  of  discovery.     At 
that  season   Bartholomew  had  undertaken  to  present   the 
project  to  the  English  king,  Henry  VII.,  and  had  parted 
from  Christopher  with  that  intention.     How  and  where  he 
had  been  delayed  during  the  intervening  years  is  largely 
matter  for  conjecture,  and  is  not  germane  to  our  narrative. 
He  was,  at  all  events,  in   London  when  he  heard  of  his 
brother's  return  to  Spain  from  his  first  voyage.     Making 
such  speed  as  he  could  to  rejoin  him,  Bartholomew  reached 
Seville  only  to  find  that  the  Admiral  had  already  sailed  on 
his  second  expedition.     That  there  was  some  communica 
tion,  however  infrequent  and  unreliable  (as  the  times  com 
pelled),  between  the  two  brothers,  is  shown  by  the  fact  that 
he  found  letters  awaiting  him  from  the  Admiral,  indicating 
what  course  he  should  pursue.     In  compliance  with  these 
he  presented  himself  before  the  King  and  Queen,  by  whom 
he  was  graciously  received,  and  commanded  to  follow  the 
Admiral  in  a  squadron  of  three  caravels  which  was  leisurely 
being  fitted  out  to  carry  supplies  and  despatches  to  the 
colony.     These  vessels  sailed  from  Cadiz  towards  the  end 
of  April,  1494,  and  reached  Isabella  early  in  August,  long 
after  the  Admiral  had  left  on  his  Cuban  cruise.     During 
the  seven  weeks  which  passed  between  his  arrival  and  the 
return  of    the    Admiral,   Bartholomew   had    ample    oppor 
tunity  to  learn  from  his  younger  brother  Diego  all  that  had 
occurred    since    the    colonists    had    reached    Hispaniola. 
Being  a  man  of  affairs  and  action,  devoted  to  his  brother's 
interests,  prudent,  well-poised,  and  coolly  courageous,  his 
presence  was  an  inestimable  advantage  to  the  Admiral,  and 
no  doubt  contributed  more  than  anything  else  to  furnish 
to  the  latter  the  moral  stimulus  needed  to  overcome  the 
physical  collapse  into  which  he  had  fallen. 

Equally  grateful  to  the  disabled  leader  were  the  de 
spatches  which  Bartholomew  had  brought  from  the  King 
and  Queen.  The  squadron  in  which  he  came  was  on  the 


1 92        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF  THE  ADMIRAL. 

point  of  leaving  Cadiz  when,  on  the  roth  of  April,  the 
twelve  vessels  commanded  by  Antonio  de  Torres  sailed 
into  port  on  their  return  from  Hispaniola,  bearing  the  first 
tidings  which  had  been  received  from  the  colony.  The 
three  caravels  were  accordingly  detained  until  Torres  could 
send  to  their  Majesties  the  budget  with  which  he  had  been 
entrusted  by  their  Admiral  and  Viceroy.  The  news  only 
emphasized  the  necessity  of  hastening  forward  the  provi 
sions  and  supplies  with  which  the  squadron  was  laden,  and 
it  was  hurried  away  as  soon  as  a  few  short  letters  could  be 
written  and  some  slight  additions  made  to  its  cargo. 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella  did  not  wait  to  receive  the  detailed 
reports  which  Torres  was  preparing  to  deliver  in  person, 
but  contented  themselves  with  sending  a  short  message  of 
sympathy  and  encouragement,  with  the  promise  of  longer 
correspondence  and  more  abundant  supplies  by  another 
squadron  which  should  be  fitted  out  immediately.  Few 
as  were  the  words  Don  Bartholomew  brought  from  the 
sovereigns,  they  were  more  efficacious  than  a  cordial  to  the 
exhausted  and  anxious  Admiral. 

"In  much  esteem  and  consideration  we  hold  you,"  their  Majes 
ties  wrote,  "for  what  you  have  done  out  yonder,  which  could  not 
be  better.  .  .  .  Rest  assured  that  we  deem  ourselves  to  be  greatly 
served  and  laid  under  obligation  by  you  on  account  of  it,  and 
bound  to  render  you  thanks,  honor,  and  advancement,  as  your 
great  services  demand  and  merit.  .  .  .  There  is  no  time  now  to 
reply  as  we  would  wish,  but  when  the  other  squadron  goes,  we 
shall  answer  and  provide  for  everything  by  it,  as  may  be  needed. 
We  have  been  displeased  by  the  things  which  have  been  done 
out  yonder  in  opposition  to  your  wishes.  By  the  first  vessels 
which  come  here  send  Bernal  de  Pisa,  to  whom  we  have  written 
that  he  get  his  affairs  in  shape  to  leave.  In  the  office  which  he 
has  filled  place  the  person  whom  to  you  and  Fray  Boil  should 
seem  best,  until  other  arrangements  can  be  made  from  here." 

This  association  with  himself  of  the  meddlesome  priest 
may  have  seemed  to  the  Admiral  to  be  an  invasion  of  his 
prerogatives;  but  it  was  not,  under  the  circumstances,  a 
matter  of  moment.  The  wily  churchman  had  already 
gathered  his  robes  around  him  and  shaken  the  rich  mould 
of  Hispaniola  from  his  sandals. 


THE  REVOLT   OF   THE    TRIBES.  ^3 

Columbus  had  double  cause  for  self-congratulation  upon 
his  brother's  arrival  when  he  heard  of  what  had  occurred  at 
Isabella  and  throughout  the  island  during  his  absence;  for  a 
strong  hand,  quick  understanding,  and  inflexible  will  were 
needed  to  prevent  the  complete  disintegration  of  the  Span 
ish  colony  and  preserve  its  authority  among  the  native  tribes. 
As  he  listened  to  the  discouraging  reports  and  reflected 
upon  his  own  inability  to  leave  his  couch,  the  one  consola 
tion  he  possessed  lay  in  the  thought  that  he  had  at  last  by 
his  side  a  deputy  whose  loyalty  was  beyond  suspicion  and 
whose  energy  was  equal   to  his  own.     The   tale   that  was 
poured  into  his  ears  was  enough  to  have  shaken  the  spirit  of 
the  strongest;  that  it  did  not  break  his  own,  in  his  enfeebled 
state,  is  evidence,  if  any  were  needed,  of  the  indomitable 
courage  which  was  his  most  salient  characteristic.     The 
troubles  had  their  origin,  it  appeared,  with  Margarite.     In 
stead  of  carrying  out  the  Admiral's  written  instructions  and 
pursuing  a  systematic  course  of  pacific  exploration,   this 
officer,  as  soon  as  the  commander-in-chief  had  sailed  from 
Isabella,  had  marched  back  with  all  his  forces  from  Cibao 
into  the  Vega  Real  and  quartered  himself  upon  the  hospit 
able  inhabitants  of  that  favored  region.     Far  from  investi 
gating  the  rugged  interior  and   leading  a  demonstration 
against  the  warriors  of  Caonabo,  Margarite  had  abandoned 
himself  to  the  agreeable  idleness  of  a  life  where  he  was 
reverenced  as  a  god  and  anticipated  in  every  wish  by  a 
confiding  and  attractive  people.     Like  master,  like  man : 
his  400  soldiers,  or  the  greater  part  of  them,  each  chose 
such  village  or  household  as  to  him  seemed  best,  installed 
himself  as  a  deity,  inferior,  indeed,  to  the  great  central 
divinity,  but  yet  a  god,   established  his  own  harem,  and 
ruled   over   his   own   band  of    obsequious   and   somewhat 
frightened  drudges.     Viceroy,    King,    Queen,   Spain,    Isa 
bella,  Caonabo, —  all  these  were  but  words  to  jeer  at;  Mar 
garite  and  his  merry  men  were  leading  the  life  of  the  Golden 
Age  and  recked  nothing  of  the  morrow.     The  inevitable 
consequences  followed  a  license  which  knew  no  shame  and  a 
despotism   which    feared   no   restraint.     The   Indians  saw 
their  homes  violated,  their  little  stores  of  food  squandered, 

13 


IQ4        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

themselves  abused,  and  their  fellows  murdered,  until  their 
Pantheon  of  bearded  gods  rapidly  developed  into  a  veiitable 
Pandemonium  of  insatiable  tyrants.  Unaccustomed  to  ac 
cumulating  provision  for  the  future,  the  natives  soon  were 
unable  to  supply  the  apparently  fabulous  requirements  of 
their  now  unwelcome  guests  for  all  kinds  of  food;  scarcity 
brought  renewed  ill-treatment  and  violence,  in  which  the 
caciques  and  their  King  himself  were  menaced  with  outrage 
and  torture.  Gentle  and  simple-minded  as  the  people  were, 
they  began  to  resent  a  treatment  which  threatened  their  very 
existence.  Rumors  of  their  disaffection  reached  the  sur 
rounding  and  more  vigorous  tribes  of  the  mountains,  and 
they  agitated  the  question  of  making  common  cause  with 
the  plainsmen.  The  situation  began  to  be  grave,  and  the 
Council  which  represented  the  Viceroy  in  his  absence  felt 
called  upon  to  remonstrate  with  Margarite  for  the  course 
he  was  following.  That  high-spirited  cavalier  furiously  re 
sented  their  interference,  scorned  their  remonstrance,  and 
defied  their  authority  in  their  own  seat  at  Isabella.  In  this 
proceeding  he  was  abetted,  either  openly  or  covertly,  by 
Fray  Boi'l  and  those  who  had  sided  with  him  and  Bernal  de 
Pisa  in  their  earlier  disputes  with  the  Admiral.  The  towns 
people  were  for  the  most  part  indisposed  toward  the  govern 
ment  on  general  principle ;  the  Council  was  utterly  unable 
to  enforce  its  requirements,  and  was,  moreover,  divided  as 
to  these.  At  this  juncture  the  three  caravels  arrived  from 
Spain,  bringing  fresh  supplies  and  another  foreign  inter 
loper  in  the  person  of  Don  Bartholomew  Columbus.  Per 
haps  Margarite  and  his  faction  gauged  the  man  at  once  and 
saw  that  they  had  to  deal  with  some  one  of  a  very  different 
type  from  mild  Don  Diego;  perhaps  some  sort  of  a  com 
promise  was  reached  by  which  the  Admiral's  brothers  and 
their  colleagues  were  glad  to  get  rid  of  the  malcontents.1 
At  all  events,  as  soon  as  the  three  ships  were  unloaded  they 

1  That  the  loyal  majority  of  the  Council  retained  some  control  of 
affairs  is  exhibited  by  the  retention  of  Bernal  Diaz  de  Pisa  at  Isabella, 
under  restraint.  Had  the  malcontents  been  as  powerful  as  some  have 
claimed,  they  would  surely  have  taken 'with  them  to  Spain  this  invalu 
able  witness  against  the  Admiral. 


THE  REVOLT   OF   THE    TRIBES,  195 

were  despatched  again  to  Cadiz,  and  with  them  sailed 
Margarita,  Fray  Boi'l,  nearly  all  his  priests,  and  a  goodly 
number  of  their  sympathizers.  Hispaniola  was  well  rid  of 
the  whole  connection,  but  they  had  only  transferred  their 
intrigues  to  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic,  and  were  to  be 
heard  from  again  later  on.  The  colony  at  Isabella  was 
relieved  by  their  departure  and  a  quieter  feeling  prevailed 
than  at  any  time  since  its  foundation;  but  a  contrary  effect 
was  produced  among  the  soldiers  who  were  living  at  ease 
in  the  hamlets  of  the  Vega  Real.  Conscious  of  the  motive 
and  method  of  Margarite's  defection,  and  sensible  of  the 
inability  of  the  Council  to  control  their  actions,  they  aban 
doned  all  idea  of  discipline,  and,  breaking  up  into  bands  of 
greater  or  less  size,  wandered  in  whatever  direction  fancy 
dictated.  Several  parties  made  their  way  across  country 
into  the  adjacent  territories  of  Guacanagari;  others  went 
into  the  sierras  of  Cibao  in  search  of  gold;  still  others  struck 
across  the  island  to  its  southern  shores;  others  yet  drifted 
towards  the  east  into  the  confines  of  Higuey :  and  so  they 
went  their  several  ways  until  they  had  emerged  at  the  widely 
separated  points  where  their  traces  had  been  found  by  the 
Admiral.  They  had,  indeed,  explored  the  island,  but  with 
far  different  results  from  those  he  had  anticipated.  Where- 
ever  they  had  gone  there  had  been  pillage,  rapine,  cruelty. 
What  they  coveted  they  took  by  force ;  what  they  wanted 
done  they  secured  by  violence.  Presuming  on  their  own 
prowess  and  despising  the  native  feebleness,  they  became 
increasingly  heedless  of  all  consequences,  until  they  placed 
themselves  in  the  power  of  the  people  they  were  goading  to 
desperation.  News  began  to  reach  the  colony  of  ambushes 
and  massacres.  Guatiguana,  cacique  of  a  large  village  on 
the  Yaqui,  quietly  put  ten  Spaniards  out  of  the  way  at  one 
stroke,  and  then  set  fire  to  a  cabin  wherein  several  more  lay 
disabled  by  sickness.  Other  petty  chiefs  were  glad  to  fol 
low  his  lead,  and  here  two  or  three,  there  half  a  dozen 
"  Christians  "  were  despatched.  Rumors  of  these  notable 
deeds  circulated  among  the  tribes  and  inspired  the  more 
warlike  chieftains  to  efforts  at  emulation,  until  a  concerted 
movement  was  set  on  foot,  led  by  Caonabo,  Mayrionex,  and 


196        THE   LAST    VOYAGES    OF   THE   ADMIRAL. 

two    equally  prominent  native  kings,  to  clear  the  whole 
island  of  the  now  abhorred  strangers. 

This  was  the  position  of  affairs  as  described  to  the  Ad 
miral  when  he  had  recovered  sufficiently  to  hear  it:  the 
native  population  was  aroused  to  open  hostility  from  one 
end  of  the  island  to  the  other;  his  soldiers  scattered  from 
Samand  Bay  to  Cape  St.  Nicholas;  no  gold  collected;  no 
fortresses  established;  his  enemies  on  their  way  to  Court  to 
undermine  his  reputation, —  and  he  helpless  on  his  back  in 
the  grip  of  a  disease  which  threatened  to  hold  him  prisoner 
for  many  a  weary  week.  While  he  was  considering  the 
measures  to  be  adopted  for  the  restoration  of  the  Spanish 
authority  and  the  prosecution  of  his  plans,  he  was  visited 
by  Guacanagari,  who  had  heard  of  the  Admiral's  illness 
and  had  come  from  his  own  territory  to  confer  with  his 
former  ally.  This  action  of  itself  dispelled  all  doubts  which 
might  still  have  existed  in  the  mind  of  Columbus  as  to  the 
King's  loyalty,  and  his  confidence  was  further  strengthened 
by  the  motive  of  the  present  visit.  Guacanagari  said  that 
he  had  given  shelter  and  protection  to  100  Spaniards  who 
had  sought  his  assistance  when  the  other  caciques  began 
to  make  reprisals  upon  the  white  men;  that  Caonabo  and 
his  associates  had  resented  this  as  an  act  of  treachery  to 
the  other  tribes  and  had  harried  his  country,  slain  his  sub 
jects,  and  in  every  way  endeavored  to  force  him  to  abandon 
the  Spaniards  and  join  his  countrymen  in  warring  upon 
them;  that  notwithstanding  this  persecution  he  was  firm  in 
his  intention  to  maintain  his  alliance  with  the  Admiral  and 
to  lend  him  every  support  in  his  power.  Coming,  as  it  did, 
at  a  moment  when  the  whole  aspect  of  his  relations  with  the 
natives  was  so  gloomy,  this  tender  of  cooperation  was 
heartily  welcome.  Columbus  explained  to  his  old  friend 
that  as  soon  as  he  was  well  he  should  go  to  attack  the  hostile 
tribes  and  would  gladly  avail  of  Guacanagari 's  proffered 
help,  in  return  for  which  the  Spaniards  would  chastise  his 
enemies  and  he  be  rewarded  for  his  fidelity.  With  his 
knowledge  of  the  inoffensive  character  of  the  people  of 
Marien,  the  Admiral  could  not  have  attached  great  impor 
tance  to  their  military  efficiency,  but  it  was  something 


THE  REVOLT   OF   THE    TRIBES.  197 

gained  if  even  a  single  tribe  stood  out  in  favor  of  the 
"Christians"  when  the  whole  island  was  in  arms  against 
them.  The  situation  was  in  truth  serious  enough.  The 
whole  effective  strength  of  the  Spaniards  at  his  disposal 
did  not  exceed  400  men,  a  large  proportion  of  whom 
were  rather  invalids  than  sound  soldiers.  Besides  these 
were  small  groups  scattered,  if  not  lost,  throughout  the 
country,  and  the  garrison  of  Fort  St.  Thomas,  which  Hojeda 
still  held  with  fifty  or  sixty  men.  Against  this  paltry  force 
was  arraying  the  entire  fighting  population  of  the  central 
portion  of  the  island,  armed,  it  is  true,  with  nothing  better 
than  bows  and  arrows,  wooden  spears,  and  heavy  wooden 
swords,  but  formidable  by  reason  of  their  numbers.  How 
many  really  were  mustering  at  the  call  of  Caonabo  and  his 
associates  there  is  no  means  of  knowing,  but  it  was  an 
immense  horde.  The  position  of  the  colonists  seemed 
desperate  and  Columbus  found  in  Hojeda  a  man  who  would 
assume  corresponding  risks  to  relieve  it.  With  nine  mounted 
companions  he  undertook  to  execute  the  suspended  project 
of  seizing  Caonabo,  who  was  regarded  by  all,  Europeans  as 
well  as  natives,  as  the  head  of  the  whole  insurrection.  Rid 
ing  far  into  this  king's  territory,  overawing  the  Indians  on 
the  road  by  his  formidable  display  of  the  terrible  new  ani 
mals, —  half  man,  half  great  quadruped, — Hojeda  succeeded 
in  gaining  possession  of  Caonabo  and  brought  him  safely  to 
Isabella.  One  account  says  he  cajoled  the  King  into  accom 
panying  him  by  promising  that  the  Spaniards  would  make 
him  lord  over  the  whole  island.  Another,  on  the  correct 
ness  of  which  Las  Casas  insists,  attributes  Hojeda's  success 
to  the  exhibition  by  him  before  Caonabo  of  a  brightly 
polished  chain  and  handcuffs  of  the  coveted  hard  metal  to 
which  the  Indians  attributed  a  divine  origin.  They  took 
its  clanking  to  be  the  voice  of  the  deity  speaking  to  the 
white  men,  it  appears ;  for  they  had  remarked  the  signs  of 
reverence  which  the  colonists  showed  when  the  Angelus  rang 
out  from  the  little  bell  in  Isabella,  and  the  readiness  with 
which  they  gathered  around  it  when  it  sounded  for  Mass. 
This,  the  natives  believed,  was  because  the  white  men's  god 
was  talking  to  them,  and  that  the  divine  gift  was  common  to 


198        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE   ADMIRAL. 

all  their  strange  metal.  Hence,  so  goes  the  story,  the  offer 
of  a  brilliant  and  jangling  chain  of  the  celestial  material 
was  bait  sufficient  to  separate  the  native  King  from  his 
surrounding  people  and  lure  him  to  a  distance,  where  the 
tempting  links  were  quickly  and  safely  attached  to  his 
limbs.  When  we  consider  the  part  taken  by  this  same  chief 
in  the  existing  uprising,  and,  in  particular,  his  reasons  for 
distrusting  the  captain  whose  fort  he  had  so  lately  been 
besieging,  it  is  difficult  to  reconcile  these  stories  with  the 
probabilities,  especially  as  a  third  version  relates  that  Cao- 
nabo  was  taken  prisoner  in  a  skirmish.  In  whatever  man 
ner  it  was  accomplished,  the  warrior  King  did  become  the 
Spaniards'  prisoner  and  was  securely  confined  at  Isabella.1 
Having  thus  disposed  of  his  most  formidable  opponent, 
the  Admiral  sent  out  an  expedition  against  Guatiguana, 
the  cacique  who  had  caused  the  massacre  of  ten  Spaniards 
and  the  burning  of  many  more.  The  results  were  as  might 
be  expected  when  matchlock,  cross-bow,  and  keen-edged 
blades  were  used  by  mail-clad  veterans  against  naked  levies 
armed  with  bone-tipped  arrows  and  wooden  assegais.  No 
particular  harm  was  done  the  Spaniards,  while  the  Indians 
were  shot  and  cut  down  in  numbers  which  it  was  too  trou 
blesome  to  estimate.  Their  cacique  escaped,  but  some 
500  of  his  followers  were  secured  alive  and  brought  to  the 
colony  as  slaves.  With  this  example  before  him,Guarionex, 
the  overlord  of  Guatiguana  and  of  all  the  other  caciques 
in  the  Vega  Real,  was  willing  enough  to  follow  the  advice 
of  Guacanagari  and  enter  into  an  alliance  with  the  Span 
iards,  which  was  cemented,  to  travesty  the  language  of 
diplomacy,  by  the  marriage  of  his  daughter  to  Diego,  the 
Admiral's  trusted  interpreter.  There  is  no  evidence  that 
the  colony  gained  an  effective  ally  by  this  arrangement,  but 
it  was  something  that  another  chief  whose  territories  bor 
dered  so  closely  upon  Isabella  was  willing  to  refrain  from 

1  If  we  compare  the  accepted  account  of  Caonabo's  seizure  by 
Hojeda  with  the  letter  of  instruction  sent  by  Columbus  to  Margarite, 
we  shall  find  some  ground  for  believing  that  the  story  was  in  after 
years  invented  to  agree  with  the  orders  known  to  have  been  given  for 
Caonabo's  capture. 


THE  REVOLT   OF   THE    TRIBES.  199 

joining  the  native  confederacy.  The  seizure  of  Caonabo 
had  only  infuriated  the  other  kings  and  caciques.  Insti 
gated  by  his  three  brothers,  they  were  gathering  their  forces 
for  an  assault  upon  the  colony  which  was  intended  to  be 
irresistible.  The  Admiral  attempted  to  frustrate  this  by  send 
ing  out  occasional  raiding-parties  into  the  nearer  disaffected 
districts,  and  caused  to  be  built  another  fortress,  which  he 
named  Conception,  in  the  heart  of  the  Vega  Real,  between 
Isabella  and  Fort  St.  Thomas.  But  although  the  Indians 
were  uniformly  beaten  in  every  skirmish  and  the  Spaniards 
drove  them  by  hundreds  into  the  town  to  be  held  as  slaves, 
the  movement  was  too  far-reaching  and  deeply  rooted  to  be 
checked  by  any  partial  measures. 

During  all  this  time  the  Admiral  was  bed-ridden.  Rely 
ing  chiefly  upon  his  brother  Bartholomew  and  the  ubiqui 
tous  Hojeda,  he  had  directed  the  various  movements  and 
measures  which  seemed  best  calculated  to  check  the  threat 
ened  invasion,  hoping  to  avert  it  until  his  health  should 
be  sufficiently  recovered  to  enable  him  to  take  the  field  in 
person  and  conduct  an  offensive  campaign. 

Affairs  were  in  this  critical  posture  when,  some  time 
early  in  November,  the  anxious  colonists  saw  with  a  joy 
whose  extravagance  was  pardonable  four  caravels  sailing 
into  their  harbor,  coming  direct  from  Spain.  It  was  not 
long  before  all  on  shore  knew  that  they  were  commanded 
by  the  same  Antonio  de  Torres  who  had  taken  back  the 
fleet  of  twelve  ships  in  February,  and  were  laden  with  the 
supplies  of  all  kinds  which  were  so  sorely  needed.  To  the 
Admiral  the  man,  with  the  messages  he  brought,  was  as 
welcome  as  the  provisions  and  stores,  for  he  trusted  Torres 
and  saw  in  his  speedy  return  to  Hispaniola  the  establish 
ment  of  a  regular  communication  with  the  mother-country 
without  which  the  settlement  was  likely  to  be  hard  pushed 
for  existence.  The  report  made  by  his  officer  was  deeply 
gratifying  to  Columbus.  Torres  related  his  arrival  at  Cadiz 
a  few  days  before  Don  Bartholomew's  departure  for  Isa 
bella  in  April,  and  the  reasons  wrhich  delayed  his  own 
immediate  access  to  the  King  and  Queen.  As  soon  as  he 
had  been  able  to  have  an  audience  with  their  Majesties, 


200        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE   ADMIRAL. 

he  had  presented  the  Admiral's  packet  of  letters  and 
memorials,  and  the  sovereigns  had  promptly  instructed 
Fonseca  to  fit  out  eight  caravels  with  abundant  supplies  of 
all  kinds  for  the  colony  at  Isabella.  Later  on,  owing  to 
the  chronic  scarcity  of  funds  with  the  Spanish  Crown,  this 
squadron  was  divided  into  two :  four  caravels  were  to  be 
prepared  hastily  and  brought  out  by  Torres,  while  the  other 
four  were  to  come  out  later.  Their  Majesties  had  been 
greatly  pleased  with  all  that  Torres  had  to  report  and  with 
the  contents  of  the  Admiral's  despatches,  and  had  given 
repeated  orders  to  have  everything  arranged  as  the  latter 
desired.  Shortly  before  sailing  with  his  four  vessels, 
Torres  had  a  final  interview  with  the  King  and  Queen,  at 
which  they  had  delivered  to  him  sundry  letters  for  the 
Admiral,  and  also  the  famous  Memorial  given  by  the  latter 
to  him  on  January  3oth.  On  this  document  their  Majesties 
had  caused  to  be  written,  at  the  side  of  every  paragraph, 
their  replies  to  the  representations  and  recommendations 
made  by  Columbus,  and  they  now  returned  the  annotated 
original  to  him  as  their  reply  to  his  report.  We  can  ima 
gine  the  interest  with  which  the  invalid  Admiral  broke  the 
seals  and  ran  his  eye  over  the  commentary  which  embraced 
the  verdict  of  his  royal  master  and  mistress  upon  his  course 
of  action,  under  the  unexpected  conditions  he  had  found 
confronting  him  on  reaching  Navidad.  His  enemies, 
headed  by  Fray  Boi'l  and  Margarite,  were  already  at  Court 
or  would  soon  be  there,  and  it  was  all  important  to  Colum 
bus  to  know  in  what  mood,  concerning  himself,  they  were 
likely  to  find  Ferdinand  and  Isabella.  The  running  com 
ments  dictated  by  their  Majesties  and  inscribed  on  the 
returned  Memorial  left  no  doubt  on  this  score,  and  freed 
the  Admiral  of  at  least  all  present  anxiety  as  to  the  attitude 
of  the  King  and  Queen  towards  himself.  It  has  pleased 
that  class  of  critics,  who  have  undertaken  to  free  the  world 
from  the  superstitious  admiration  under  which  it  has  so 
long  and  lamentably  labored  in  respect  of  Columbus,  to 
represent  the  Spanish  sovereigns  as  entering  "  in  the  mar 
gins  their  comments  and  orders"  .  .  .  "just  as  it  was 
perused  by  them."  We  are  informed  that,  as  the  Admiral 


THE  REVOLT   OF   THE    TRIBES.  2OI 

11  makes  excuses  and  gives  his  reasons  for  not  doing  this  or 
that,  the  compliant  monarchs  as  constantly  write  against 
the  paragraphs,  'He  has  done  well,'  "  etc.  It  must  have 
been  cause  of  added  satisfaction  to  Columbus  to  notice 
(as  his  censors  might  have  done,  had  they  cared  to  be 
exact)  that  this  is  precisely  what  his  royal  patrons  did  not 
do.  They  did  not  pass  their  formal  judgment  upon  his  acts 
and  proposals  until  the  i5th  of  August,  as  the  document  itself 
shows, —  four  months  after  Torres  had  delivered  it  to  them. 
At  that  time  the  comments  were  written  out  in  his  presence, 
to  be  enlarged  upon  and  supplemented  by  the  verbal  mes 
sages  which,  as  the  paper  shows,  he  was  charged  to  give  the 
Admiral.  It  is  true  that  their  Majesties  did  uniformly 
approve  and  applaud  the  report  and  its  suggestions;  but 
they  did  it  after  ripe  reflection  and  with  entire  familiarity 
with  all  the  facts ;  not  impulsively  and  out  of  mere  com 
plaisance,  as  the  detractors  of  Columbus  would  have  us 
think.  Even  in  the  matter  of  the  proposed  enslaving  of 
the  Caribs,  their  Majesties  heartily  approved,  in  so  far  as 
the  measure  was  ostensibly  based  upon  a  solicitude  for  the 
salvation  of  their  souls.  It  was  only  in  regard  to  the  pro 
position  to  pay  in  cannibal  slaves  the  costs  of  the  future 
supplies  needed  for  the  colony  that  Ferdinand  and  Isabella 
informed  Columbus  that  they  preferred  to  wait  until  they 
should  hear  further  from  him  on  the  subject;  and  in  doing 
this  they  appear  to  have  considered  only  the  commercial 
expediency  of  the  plan,  not  its  moral  obliquity.  In  short, 
as  the  Admiral  read  the  royal  comments  upon  his  own 
memorial,  and  heard  Torres  add  this,  that,  and  the  other 
verbal  message  from  King  or  Queen,  he  had  just  reason 
for  feeling  that  all  he  had  done  and  projected  was  emphat 
ically  endorsed  by  them  and  would  receive  their  cordial 
support.  It  was  a  vast  relief  to  his  anxious  mind,  and  the 
fact  that  this  approbation  was  not  the  fruit  of  an  outburst 
of  enthusiasm,  born  of  a  natural  pleasure  at  seeing  the  great 
fleet  safely  returned  and  hearing  of  the  successful  founding 
of  the  colony,  but  was  sober  second  thought  on  the  eve  of 
Torres' s  setting  out  on  his  return  to  Isabella  after  four 
months  of  conference  and  consultation,  added  immensely 


202        THE   LAST    VOYAGES    OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

to  the  importance  of  the  royal  concurrence  in  the  estima 
tion  of  its  recipient, —  as  it  should  in  our  own.  In  face 
of  the  record  it  is  not  worth  while  to  try  to  minimize 
the  acquiescence  and  applause  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella. 
What  Columbus  had  done  and  wished  to  do  they  liked  and 
extolled,  and  they  did  not  hesitate  to  say  so  unreservedly. 
The  formal  letter  which  they  sent  by  Torres,  dated  on  the 
i6th  of  August, —  just  before  his  departure, —  was  still  more 
pronounced  in  its  sympathy  and  encouragement. 

"  We  have  read  the  letters  and  memorials  which  you  sent  us 
by  Torres,"  their  Majesties  wrote,  "  and  have  had  great  pleasure 
in  knowing  all  that  which  you  tell  us  therein.  We  return  many 
thanks  to  our  Lord  for  all  this,  because  we  hope  that  with  his 
help  this  affair  of  yours  may  be  the  means  by  which  our  holy 
Catholic  faith  shall  be  much  more  widely  extended.  One  of  the 
chief  reasons  why  this  business  has  so  greatly  pleased  us  is  that 
it  has  been  planned,  begun,  and  carried  out  by  your  skill,  effort, 
and  perseverance  ;  for  it  appears  to  us  that  all  which  you  assured 
us  at  the  outset  could  be  accomplished  has,  for  the  most  part, 
proved  exact,  as  though  you  had  seen  it  all  before  you  spoke  to 
us  about  it." 

What  more  could  any  servant  of  any  monarch  desire 
than  such  words  as  these  from  the  Crown  he  served  ? 

"  We  have  faith  in  God,"  continues  the  letter,  "  that  what  yet 
remains  to  be  learned  will  correspond  with  that  which  is  past, 
for  which  latter  we  hold  ourselves  under  much  obligation  to 
recompense  you  in  such  manner  that  you  shall  rest  satisfied." 

What  more  specific  acknowledgment  of  duty  well  per 
formed  could  a  servitor  of  the  state  receive  ?  The  King 
and  Queen  add  that,  "although  you  have  written  us  suf 
ficiently  in  detail  about  all  matters  of  interest,  so  that  it 
is  a  great  joy  and  delight  to  read  your  letters,  we  should 
wish  that  you  write  us  something  more."  They  catalogue 
the  subjects  upon  which  they  desire  more  explicit  informa 
tion, —  the  number  of  all  the  islands  found  and  their  Indian 
names;  the  distance  from  one  to  the  other,  and  the  produc 
tions  of  each;  the  results  of  the  sowing  and  planting  of 
European  seeds  and  cuttings;  the  climate  of  each  month  as 
compared  with  that  of  Spain,  whether  as  "some  would  have 


THE  REVOLT   OF   THE    TRIBES.  2  03 

us  believe,  there  are  out  yonder  in  each  year  two  winters 
and  two  summers."  Ferdinand  would  like  all  the  falcons 
which  can  be  secured  in  the  new  lands,1  and  specimens  of 
all  other  birds.  Torres  will  report  concerning  the  filling  of 
the  Admiral's  requisitions.  Now  that  no  further  cause  of  dis 
pute  exists  with  Portugal,  and  the  Spanish  vessels  can  cross 
the  ocean  without  fear  of  interception,  at  least  one  caravel 
per  month  should  be  despatched  from  Hispaniola,  so  as  to 
maintain  constant  communication  between  Spain  and  the 
colony,  provided  this  meets  with  the  Admiral's  approval. 

"In  what  relates  to  the  methods  which  you  should  adopt  with 
the  people  you  have  out  yonder,  what  you  have  so  far  done 
seems  well  to  us,  and  so  you  should  continue,  giving  them  as 
much  satisfaction  as  circumstances  will  allow.  But  do  not  allow 
them  to  fail  in  any  of  the  things  they  ought  to  do  and  which  you 
should  order  them  to  do  in  our  name.  In  regard  to  the  settle 
ment  you  have  founded,  there  is  no  one  who  can  prudently  give 
directions  or  improve  anything  from  this  distance.  If  we  were 
there,  we  should  follow  your  advice  and  opinion  in  this  matter ; 
how  much  the  more  when  we  are  away!  Therefore  we  leave  the 
affair  in  your  hands." 

Their  Majesties  then  refer  to  a  copy  which  they  enclose 
of  the  treaty  signed  between  Spain  and  Portugal  in  the  pre 
ceding  June  for  the  amicable  adjustment  of  all  disputes 
concerning  the  rights  of  each  in  the  unknown  ocean,  and 
express  the  desire  to  have  the  Admiral  or  his  brother  Don 
Bartholomew  present  at  the  approaching  deliberations  of 
the  joint  commission  which  was  to  determine  the  limits  of 
each  nation's  rights.  In  any  event  the  Admiral  was  to  send 
them  a  full  discussion  of  the  whole  subject  from  his  point 
of  view,  together  with  his  own  suggestions  as  to  the  proper 
line  of  demarcation  and  such  maps  as  he  should  consider 
useful. 

Unmistakably  cordial  as  was  the  whole  tenor  of  this 
letter,  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  were  not  contented  to  limit 
their  expressions  of  support  to  the  letters  written  to  the 
Admiral  in  person.  Torres  was  also  entrusted  with  a  royal 

1  The  King  was  evidently  thinking  of  the  frequent  mention  made 
by  Marco  Polo  of  the  superior  quality  of  falcons  found  in  Asia. 


204   THE  LA$T  VOYAGES  OF  THE  ADMIRAL. 

rescript  or  proclamation  addressed  to  the  "  Knights,  squires, 
officials,  gentlemen,  and  all  others  of  whatever  degree  or 
condition  you  may  be,  who,  by  our  orders  have  gone,  are 
going,  or  hereafter  may  go"  to  the  Indies,  enjoining  them 
under  heavy  penalties  to  "do  and  fulfil  everything  which 
our  Viceroy  and  Governor  shall  order  or  deem  necessary  for 
our  service."  The  effect  of  this  document  was  naturally  to 
strengthen  the  Admiral's  hands,  even  among  those  who  were 
inclined  to  sympathize  rather  with  Bernal  de  Pisa,  Boi'l,  and 
Margarite  than  with  him.  Those  who  were  loyal  gathered 
new  courage  from  this  palpable  evidence  of  their  sovereigns' 
satisfaction  and  support,  while  the  new  men  who  had  come 
out  with  Torres  saw  in  it  a  sufficient  answer  to  the  criti 
cisms  which  they  were  sure  to  hear  of  the  Admiral's  rela 
tions  to  the  King  and  Queen.  Whatever  might  be  the 
danger  threatening  from  without,  Columbus  felt  that  he 
might  count  upon  at  least  a  season  of  peace  within  the 
colony. 

As  the  voyage  to  Cuba  and  Jamaica  marked  a  distinct 
epoch  in  the  Admiral's  career  of  discovery,  so  did  the 
arrival  of  this  budget  of  royal  approvals  and  commenda 
tions  mark  a  corresponding  phase  in  the  history  of  his  con 
nection  with  Ferdinand  and  Isabella.  He  had  to  report  to 
them  a  vast  extension  of  their  new  domains,  with  the  cer 
tainty  of  still  wider  dominion,  and  had  received  from  them 
their  last  expression  of  frank,  spontaneous,  and  unqualified 
confidence  and  countenance.  The  long,  bitter  struggle  with 
his  enemies  for  the  royal  favor,  which  ended  only  on  his 
deathbed,  had  begun. 


XI. 


THE   PENALTY   OF   DEFEAT. 

AS  we  follow  the  Admiral  along  the  southern  shores  of 
Cuba,  Jamaica,  and  Hayti,  on  the  cruise  which  was 
just  finished,  we  find  the  engaging  scenes  of  his  first 
experiences  among  the  Bahamas  repeated  at  almost  every 
beach  and  bay  where  native  villages  were  found.  Swarms 
of  delighted  and  friendly  Indians,  flotillas  of  welcoming 
canoes,  hospitable  offerings  of  food  and  fruits,  marked  the 
progress  of  the  Spanish  ships  as  they  slowly  sailed  from 
one  headland  to  another.  Although  to  most,  if  not  all,  on 
board  the  caravels  the  novelty  of  such  a  reception  had 
long  worn  off  and  its  constant  repetition  savored  of  tame- 
ness,  the  Spaniards  met  the  natives  in  the  same  spirit  of 
cordiality  and  left  them  far  more  enriched,  in  their  own 
conception,  than  they  were  before  the  white  men's  treasures 
of  beads  and  bells  had  been  distributed.  In  all  this  time 
we  find  no  trace  of  impatience,  contempt,  or  harshness  in 
the  Admiral's  treatment  of  the  islanders.  What  they 
offered  was  received  with  appreciation  and  paid  for,  in 
the  donors'  estimation,  with  overwhelming  generosity. 
No  injustice  was  done  them,  no  advantage  taken  of  their 
ignorance  and  weakness.  His  references  to  them  are 
kindly  and  indulgent,  and  his  two  correspondents, —  the 
Cura  de  los  Palacios  and  Peter  Martyr, —  who  have  trans 
mitted  to  us  his  familiar  opinions  concerning  those  islands 
and  their  peoples,  uniformly  preserve  the  same  tone  of 
sympathetic  friendliness.  There  was,  therefore,  no  dif 
ference  between  the  benevolent  sentiments  he  cherished 

205 


2O6       THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE   ADMIRAL. 

toward  the  Indians  at  the  time  of  the  Discovery  and  those 
which  he  exhibited  during  this  second  voyage, —  as  there  was 
none  in  the  voyages  which  succeeded.  Where  the  natives 
were  peaceably  disposed  and  met  him  in  a  spirit  of  frank 
ness  and  confidence,  he  was  quick  to  respond  in  a  similar 
strain.  There  is  absolutely  nothing  in  the  record  to  justify 
an  honest  doubt,  that  in  pursuing  this  humane  course,  his 
ideas  of  policy  coincided  with  his  personal  inclinations. 

But  where  he  was  received  with  menaces  and  brandished 
weapons,  he  opposed  arms  to  arms;  where  the  cannibals 
threatened  the  permanency  of  his  projected  settlements  and 
the  anatomical  integrity  of  his  settlers,  he  treated  them  as 
natural  foes;  where  his  men  were  slaughtered  and  his 
colony  endangered,  he  looked  upon  his  savage  adversaries 
as  Miles  Standish  did  upon  the  pagan  disturbers  of  the 
Puritan  peace.  What  were  the  merits  of  the  several  issues 
is  not  the  question.  Doubtless  there  were  as  flagrant  cases 
of  injustice  in  the  Indian  affairs  of  Hispaniola  in  1494  as 
there  were  in  those  of  the  United  States  centuries  after 
ward.  We  cannot  deny  the  academical  correctness  of  the 
plea  that  the  aborigines  were  entitled  to  resist  the  invasion 
of  their  sierras  and  savannahs,  and  repel,  if  they  could, 
the  Europeans  vi  et  armis.  Las  Casas  urged  that  point  as 
eloquently  and  logically  in  the  time  of  Columbus  as  Mrs. 
Jackson,  or  Mr.  Welsh,  or  any  of  the  devoted  friends  of  the 
redman,  have  done  and  are  doing  in  our  own  day, —  and 
with  just  about  the  same  measure  of  success.  Columbus 
did  not  go  as  far  in  his  classification  of  Indians  good  and 
bad  as  have  some  of  our  own  bravest  soldiers,  for  he  was 
contented  to  believe  that  an  Indian  was  safely  disposed  of 
when  he  was  made  a  slave;  but  there  was  no  shadow  of 
turning  in  his  emphatic  conviction  that  a  bow  was  to  be 
met  with  an  arquebuse  and  an  assegai  with  a  lance.  Fight 
ing  was  not  even  an  accomplishment  in  those  days  to  a  man 
of  active  life  :  it  was  a  necessity  of  his  existence.  Battle, 
murder,  and  sudden  death  were  good  things  to  be  delivered 
from,  no  doubt,  but  the  chance  of  escaping  them  was  small 
for  most  adult  litanists  of  the  stronger  sex.  To  their  credit 
be  it  said,  that  they  fought  cheerfully  and  manfully  on  all 


THE   PENALTY   OF  DEFEAT. 


207 


occasions,  whether  evenly  matched,  outnumbered,  or  out 
numbering;  they  did  not  wait  to  make  their  reputation  by 
some  easy  conquest  of  a  weakling  foe.      But  the  feeble 
ness  of  their  adversary  did  not  deter  them;  if  he  chose  to 
withstand  them,  on  his  head  be  the  pains.     If  the  scene 
was  laid  in  Europe  and  he  was  Italian,  French,  or  Flem 
ing  who  opposed    the  Spanish    arms,   he  was  good  for  a 
ransom   if  taken  alive;    while,  if  killed,  he  was  an  enemy 
the  less.     If,  on  other  fields,  he  was  Moor  of  Granada  or 
Barbary,  Guanche"   of  the  Canaries,  or  black  savage  of  the 
Guinea  coast,  he  was  his  captor's  property,  or  that  of  the 
Crown,  and  worth  what  he  might  bring  in  the  nearest  mart. 
Therefore,  after  doing  a  reasonable  amount  of  killing,  the 
Spanish  soldier  was  wont  to  withhold  his  hand  and  devote 
himself  to  the  acquisition  of  locomotive  plunder.     Noth 
ing  can  be  said  in  defence  of  such  a  code ;   it  was  as  bad 
as  bad  can  be.     We  accomplish  the  same  laudable  ends 
now  by  far  less  ostentatious  means.     But  in  the  times  of 
which  we  write,  as  every  schoolboy  knows,  such  was  the 
code  of  every  nation  in  Europe;   and  to  brand  Columbus, 
as  some  do,  as  "the  originator  of  American  slavery"  be 
cause  he  did  not  introduce  a  different  style  of  warfare  into 
the  New  World,  is  only  a  captious  method  of  saying  that 
the  natives  of  Hispaniola,  with  whom  he  and  his  compan 
ions  fought,  were  natives  of  the  recently  discovered  western 
islands  and  not  of  Europe,  Asia,  or  Africa.     To  this  purely 
military  aspect  of  the  subject  must  be  added  the  religious. 
Columbus  was  a  devoted  —  it  is  easy  for  us  Protestants  to 
say  a  bigoted  —  son  of  the  Church.    Its  law  was  his  duty ;  its 
honor,  his  pnde.     Those  who  raised  their  weapons  against 
the  holy  symbol  of  his   faith  —  and  he   sailed,    marched, 
and  fought  beneath  the  Green  Cross  —  or  against  those  who 
brought  salvation  to  the  Gentiles,   were  Anathema,— the 
lawful  spoil  of    Christians,   who  conferred  an  everlasting 
boon  upon  them  by  saving  their  souls  at  the  trifling  expense 
of  their  bodies'  pain.     Nothing  is  easier  than  to  scoff  at 
this  feeling  now,  dub  it  hypocrisy,  taunt  Columbus  with 
rinding  it  a  convenient  cloak  for  his  alleged  schemes  of 
avarice.     But  it  is  a  fact,  little  as  we  may  share  the  senti- 


208        THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

ment,  and  as  such  cannot  be  laughed  out  of  court.  We 
are  not  living  in  the  fifteenth  century,  it  is  well  to  remem 
ber,  nor  are  we  Columbuses. 

This  radical  distinction,  between  those  natives  who  re 
ceived  the  Spaniards  amicably  and  accepted  their  tutelage, 
and  those  who  resented  their  coming  and  sought  to  compel 
their  withdrawal,  is  the  key  to  the  apparent  inconsistency 
of  the  Admiral's  treatment  of  the  Indians.  Both  in  the 
past  and  in  the  future  he  treated  those  who  met  him  peace 
ably  with  justice  and  consideration;  but  those  who  opposed 
him  he  met  sword  in  hand,  as  he  had  faced  Moors,  Vene 
tians,  French,  and  Portuguese  in  the  stormy  years  of  his 
youth.  Even  on  his  first  voyage,  he  had  frankly  recom 
mended  such  a  policy  as  the  only  one  compatible  with 
safety  and  success.  The  power  of  Spain  and  the  honor  of 
the  Church  must  be  upheld  at  all  costs.  This  is  why  he 
did  not  reprove  his  men  for  the  blood  they  shed  in  Samana 
Bay,  when  on  their  way  to  Spain  from  the  Discovery;  why 
he  looked  upon  the  punishment  of  the  Caribs  as  obligatory; 
why  he  considered  it  imperative  to  capture  Caonabo,  the 
destroyer  of  the  garrison  at  Navidad;  why  he  met  the 
menaces  of  the  Jamaicans  and  Higueyans  with  counter 
demonstrations;  and  why,  since  his  return  to  Isabella,  he 
had  sent  Hojeda  and  his  other  captains  on  devastating  raids 
through  the  surrounding  country.  What  was  wise  policy  in 
a  time  of  peace  was  criminal  weakness  in  a  season  of  war. 
Those  who  were  his  friends  among  the  natives,  he  rewarded ; 
those  who  were  his  enemies,  he  sought  to  punish.  The 
ethical  objections  are  obvious  but  not  relevant.  The  prac 
tical  flaw  in  his  system,  viewing  it  from  the  moral  level  of 
his  day,  was  that  he  could  not  impose  upon  his  deputies  and 
subordinates  a  like  discrimination  to  that  which  he  himself 
exercised.  In  the  absence  of  such  a  distinction,  all  the 
natives  came  to  be  looked  upon  as  legitimate  prey  by  the 
Spaniards. 

The  fact  that,  with  the  exception  of  Guarionex  and  Gua- 
canagari,  all  the  caciques  of  the  island  were  banded  together 
to  destroy  the  Europeans  was,  in  the  Admiral's  estimation, 
ample  justification  for  proceeding  against  them  with  all  the 


THE  PENALTY  OF  DEFEAT. 


209 


rigors  of  an  offensive  war.  Self-preservation  was  added  to 
the  other  motives  which  influenced  his  conduct  towards  the 
Haytians,  and  what  he  had  in  contemplation  he  proposed  to 
do  thoroughly.  His  malady  did  not  yet  permit  him  to  take 
an  active  part  in  the  preparations,  but  he  directed  them  with 
his  wonted  care,  and  felt  no  doubt  as  to  the  results  of  the 
campaign  he  was  planning,  notwithstanding  the  overwhelm 
ing  superiority  of  the  natives  in  number.  Only  two  years 
had  passed  since  he  and  all  his  companions  were  thrown, 
wellnigh  defenceless,  upon  the  shores  near  Navidad  and 
succored  with  such  rare  hospitality  and  magnanimity  by 
some  of  these  very  islanders.  If,  in  that  short  time,  the 
white  men  had  so  far  antagonized  the  natives  that  the 
former  were  now  threatened  with  actual  extermination, 
the  causes  of  the  evil  lay  in  something  deeper  than  any  fan 
cied  callousness  of  the  Admiral  toward  the  people  whose 
amiable  guilelessness  he  had  so  often  vaunted.  The  root 
of  the  trouble  was,  undoubtedly,  the  excesses  and  cruelties 
committed  by  the  worthless  rabble  which  constituted  so 
large  a  proportion  of  colonists,  and  the  disorganization 
which  made  possible  the  continuance  of  such  dangerous 
license.  As  Viceroy  and  the  commander-in-chief  of  the 
soldiery,  Columbus  was,  of  course,  responsible  for  this  con 
dition  of  affairs,  and  it  would  be  useless  to  attempt  to 
relieve  him  of  the  consequences.  At  the  same  time,  it  is 
only  just  to  bear  in  mind  that  on  leaving  the  colony  and 
starting  upon  his  Cuban  cruise,  at  what  the  event  proved  to 
be  a  hazardous  season,  he  was  fulfilling  the  repeated  injunc 
tions  of  his  sovereigns  to  settle  the  problem  of  Cuba's  geog 
raphy  at  the  earliest  practicable  moment.  He  was  detained 
on  that  voyage  by  untoward  circumstances,  and,  upon  his 
return,  was  incapacitated  from  active  exertions  for  five 
months  by  an  illness  which  repeatedly  menaced  his  life. 
Opposed  to  him,  in  secret  and  overtly,  was  a  strong  faction 
of  Crown-appointed  officials  who  possessed,  and  were  known 
to  possess,  the  confidence  and  —  as  in  the  case  of  Margarita, 
Boil,  and  Bernal  de  Pisa  — the  friendship  of  the  King  and 
Queen.  If  we  duly  weigh  these  circumstances,  we  shall 
find  that  the  responsibility  of  Columbus  was  not  properly  of 


210       THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

his  own  making,  and  that  in  pursuing  a  policy  of  repression 
and  punishment  he  was  acting  in  the  one  manner  consistent 
with  the  interests  of  his  charge  in  the  conditions  which  he 
found  existing.  The  problem  immediately  confronting  him 
was  not  how  to  establish  and  maintain  a  just  and  righteous 
code  of  procedure  towards  the  natives,  but  how  to  preserve 
his  colony  from  destruction  and  uphold  the  authority  of  the 
Spanish  Crown  in  the  New  World.  In  deciding  it  he 
adopted  the  only  argument  which  his  experience  or  that  of 
his  contemporaries  had  found  efficacious, —  a  vigorously 
conducted  military  campaign.  The  history  of  the  relations 
of  white  men  and  Indians  in  the  western  hemisphere  does 
not  suggest  that  there  was  any  alternative.  The  Spaniards 
were  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  a  numerous,  united,  and 
not  despicable  foe.  To  attempt  to  treat  with  such  a  horde 
of  savages  was  as  futile  then  as  it  would  be  now.  No  course 
was  open  except  to  reduce  them  to  submission  before  trust 
ing  to  any  parleys.  Columbus  followed  the  same  reasoning 
that  we  have  ourselves  consistently  pursued  in  our  alleged 
Indian  policy,  and  committed  the  same  error  afterwards  as 
we  have, —  of  not  enforcing  a  just  and  humane  treatment 
of  the  conquered  tribes.  That  is  the  true  extent  of  his 
fault.  To  charge  him  with  indiscriminate  cruelty  is  to 
falsify  history. 

Before  the  Admiral  was  ready  to  take  the  field,  he  de 
spatched  Antonio  de  Torres  back  to  Spain  with  the  four 
ships  in  which  he  had  come  out.  As  on  his  former  voyage, 
this  officer  took  with  him  a  budget  of  letters,  reports,1  and 
memorials  from  Columbus  to  his  sovereigns,  but  the  Ad 
miral  did  not  trust  to  these  alone.  The  defection  of  Boil 
and  Margarite,  the  result  of  his  Cuban  cruise,  and  the 
present  dangerous  crisis  in  the  colony's  affairs  demanded 

1  Herrera  summarizes  (Lib.  I.  Cap.  III.  of  the  1st  Decade)  a  long 
and  minute  description  of  the  island  of  Hayti  forwarded  by  Columbus 
to  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  at  the  time.  It  is  full  of  interesting  detail, 
and  has  been  reproduced  by  Irving  and  other  historians;  but  its  author 
ship  has  escaped  their  notice.  In  the  same  budget  was  the  Admiral's 
parescer,  or  opinion,  concerning  the  relative  geographical  rights  of 
Spain  and  Portugal  under  the  Papal  Bull. 


THE  PENALTY   OF  DEFEAT.  211 

that  their  Majesties  should  have  a  full  knowledge  of  all  that 
had  happened  from  a  source  certain  to  do  justice  to  Colum 
bus.  The  latter  accordingly  deputed  his  brother,  Don 
Diego,  to  accompany  Torres  and  represent  the  Admiral's 
interests  before  the  King  and  Queen.  By  his  hands  were  sent 
such  commodities,  curiosities,  and  valuables  as  had  been 
collected  since  the  departure  of  the  last  squadron  in  August. 
Of  gold  there  was  little  to  be  sent,  for  the  disturbed  condi 
tion  of  the  country  had  put  an  end  to  all  systematic  mining 
and  washing.  But  the  fleet  was  laden  with  a  cargo  which 
would  excite  almost  as  much  interest  and  satisfaction  in 
Cadiz  and  Seville  as  though  it  brought  a  goodly  heap  of  yel 
low  ingots  for  the  mint.  Five  hundred  of  the  Indians  cap 
tured  in  the  expedition  against  Guatiguana,  and  the  other 
raids  into  the  interior,  were  crowded  on  the  caravels,  con 
signed  to  the  godly  Bishop  of  Badajoz,  Juan  de  Fonseca,  as  a 
welcome  remittance  from  the  colony  at  Isabella.  It  is  shock 
ing  enough  to  read  of,  and  our  own  laws  were  right  in  mak 
ing  it  a  capital  offence;  but  it  was  the  custom  of  the  day  in 
1494.  Moors,  Canary  Islanders,  and  negroes  were  imported 
in  droves  and  sold  freely  in  the  Spanish  markets,  and  the 
addition  of  a  new  brand  of  human  goods  to  the  current 
supply  was  received  with  no  other  objection  than  that  it 
tended  to  depress  prices.  There  is  a  pretty  story  to  the 
effect  that  Queen  Isabella  resented  this  appropriation  of 
her  new  "vassals"  and  angrily  exclaimed  against  the  Ad 
miral's  presumption  in  so  dealing  with  them.  But  a  care 
ful  study  of  the  records  discloses  that  her  anger  was  directed 
against  the  man  himself  and  not  his  act;  for  the  King  and 
Queen  freely  condoned,  if  they  did  not  frankly  permit,  the 
enslavement  of  the  natives  for  several  years  after  this  first 
shipment.  They  feigned  to  discriminate  between  captives 
taken  in  arms  and  peaceable  Indians  wrongfully  kidnapped, 
but  they  did  not  scruple  to  cover  all  the  proceeds  into  the 
royal  coffers.  Judged  from  our  point  of  view, —  as  improved 
within  the  last  twenty-five  years, —  the  whole  business  was 
atrocious.  But  we  might  as  logically  inveigh  against  the 
Spaniards  of  the  fifteenth  century  for  not  maintaining  a 
system  of  public  schools  as  for  trading  in  slaves.  We  need 


212       THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE   ADMIRAL. 

not  go  back  very  far  to  find  ourselves  in  their  place,  if  we 
desire  to  look  at  the  matter  from  both  sides. 

By  the  beginning  of  March  the  Admiral  was  well  enough 
to  put  his  plans  into  execution.  He  had  collected  a  force 
of  200  infantry  and  twenty  horsemen.  Many  of  the  num 
ber  were  more  fitted  for  the  convalescent  hospital  than  for 
campaigning,  but  all  who  were  strong  enough  to  bear  arms 
were  pressed  into  the  service.  In  addition  to  this  force 
there  were  twenty  bloodhounds,  now  for  the  first  time  in 
troduced  on  the  scene  in  western  lands.  These  savage 
animals  had  been  brought  by  Torres  from  the  Canary 
Islands,  where  the  breed  had  long  been  used  in  hunting 
down  the  natives.  These  particular  ones  were  destined 
for  service  against  the  cannibals,  when  the  Admiral  should 
undertake  his  expedition  among  their  islands;  but  they 
were  too  valuable  an  ally  to  be  discarded  by  the  feeble 
army.  Guacanagari,  with  some  of  his  tribesmen,  also  ac 
companied  the  Spanish  column,  and  may  have  been  of 
some  assistance  in  the  commissariat;  neither  he  nor  his 
people  were  fighters.  The  town  was  left  in  care  of  the 
invalids  and  artisans,  who  were  considered  a  sufficient 
guard  when  aided  by  the  artillery  and  defences  of  the  fort. 
The  Admiral,  in  fact,  had  not  to  cut  loose  from  this  base, 
for  the  enemy  was  gathered  in  force  in  the  nearest  part  of 
the  Vega  Real,  only  two  short  marches  from  Isabella.  At 
the  most,  the  Spaniards  had  only  to  advance  thirty  miles 
from  the  town  to  reach  the  native  host.  Committing  the 
blunder  which  has  been  perpetrated  with  such  pathetic 
monotony  by  so  many  savage  armies,  the  Indians  had  aban 
doned  all  the  advantages  of  a  position  in  the  neighboring 
hills  and  had  come  down  into  the  level  savannah  to  meet 
their  assured  fate.  How  many  there  may  have  been  is  not 
even  to  be  guessed.  Las  Casas  says  that  some  of  the 
Spaniards  alleged  that  there  were  more  than  100,000.  It 
is  not  improbable  that  there  were  one-fifth  of  the  number, 
for  the  insurrection  was  general  and  the  population  of  the 
island  considerable.1  They  were,  as  to  the  majority,  quite 

1  According  to  Las  Casas,  Columbus  estimated  the  population  at 
1,100,000.  The  good  Bishop  thinks  this  referred  to  the  province  of 
Cihao  alone. 


THE  PENALTY  OF  DEFEAT.  21$ 

naked;  some  of  the  tribes  wore  a  kind  of  waistcloth. 
Their  weapons  were  generally  bows,  light  arrows  of  reeds 
tipped  with  bones  of  fish,  or  bits  of  turtle  shell,  spears  of 
hard  wood,  with  their  ends  hardened  in  the  fire  and  sharp 
ened,  and  flat  two-edged  wooden  swords.  Some  of  the 
mountaineers  even  retained  the  primitive  arms  of  the  stone 
age, — hatchets,  maces,  and  flint-headed  javelins.  The 
Spaniards  were  well  armed,  if  weak;  they  had  both  fire 
arms  and  cross-bows,  were  in  most  cases  protected  by  steel 
corselets  and  helmets,  carried  long,  keen  swords,  and  their 
mounted  men  had  the  heavy  lances  used  to  overthrow  the 
mail-clad  soldiery  of  Europe.  The  natives  were  com 
manded  by  one  of  Caonabo's  brothers,  who  displayed  a 
rude  generalship  in  dividing  his  host  into  several  columns, 
with  the  intent  of  encircling  the  petty  force  opposed  to 
him.  But  the  Spaniards  did  not  await  an  assault.  Mov 
ing  against  the  nearest  column,  the  infantry  discharged 
their  arquebuses  and  bows,  while  the  little  band  of  horse 
men,  led  by  Hojeda,  plunged  headlong  into  the  naked 
crowd  before  it.  The  "battle  "  was  over  in  a  moment,  and 
instead  was  to  be  seen  nothing  but  swarms  of  fleeing 
Indians  pursued  by  horse  and  foot  and  smitten  down  as 
fast  as  swords  could  fall  and  lances  thrust.  The  leashes 
which  held  the  bloodhounds  were  slipped,  and  the  hungry 
animals  sprang  at  limb  or  throat,  leaping  from  one  bare 
victim  to  another  and  inspiring  almost  as  much  terror 
among  the  distracted  fugitives  as  did  the  awesome  animals 
of  larger  size  which  were  thundering  at  their  heels.  In  a 
dozen  directions  across  the  plain  the  luckless  Haytians 
streamed,  seeking  the  shelter  of  neighboring  woods  and 
foot-hills,  and  after  them  followed  infantry,  cavalry,  and 
dogs,  killing  and  mangling  to  their  savage  content.  After 
all,  a  couple  of  hundred  men  can  only  slaughter  a  limited 
number  of  their  kind  in  a  given  number  of  hours,  even  when 
their  quarry  is  defenceless.  It  takes  an  appreciable  time  to 
hew  down  or  thrust  through  even  a  naked  body  and  recover 
one's  weapon  for  da  capo  ;  and  there  is,  besides,  the  time 
consumed  in  chasing.  In  later  years  the  Spanish  conquista- 
dores  scientifically  reduced  the  needful  motions  to  a 


214        THE  L^ST    VOYAGES   OF   TPIE  ADMIRAL. 

minimum,  thereby  largely  increasing  the  mortality  among 
their  adversaries  and  correspondingly  diminishing  their 
own  fatigue ;  but  in  the  affair  of  the  Vega  Real  they  were 
yet  unskilled  and  would  consequently  weary  the  sooner. 
What  the  death-roll  among  the  natives  was  has  not  been 
given;  it  is  not  likely  that  any  one  made  a  count.  It  could 
not  have  much  exceeded  a  thousand.  No  one  among  the 
Spaniards  seems  to  have  been  seriously  hurt.  As  soon  as 
the  heat  of  the  pursuit  was  over  and  the  dispersion  of  the 
main  bodies  complete,  the  victors  turned  their  attention  to 
corralling  the  largest  available  number  of  their  opponents 
for  slaves,  and  the  whole  dreary  business  was  finished. 

It  has  not  been  often  necessary  to  repeat  an  object-lesson 
of  this  kind  among  nations  having  as  little  inclination  for 
war  as  the  people  of  Hispaniola.  The  defeated  confeder 
ates  slunk  to  their  several  retreats  and  counted  themselves 
fortunate  if  they  were  not  quickly  haled  therefrom  by  some 
raiding-party  from  the  Spanish  forces.  The  authority  of 
the  native  caciques  was  gone,  the  confidence  of  the  tribes 
forever  broken,  the  population  scattered,  their  plantations 
and  settlements  deserted,  and  the  whole  economy  of  the 
central  portion  of  the  island  fatally  disorganized.  The 
murders  of  two  or  three  score  Spaniards  had  been  abun 
dantly  revenged,  and  the  peace  of  hopeless  subjection 
established  throughout  the  land.  It  was  the  fortune  of  war, 
as  war  was  considered  then,  —  the  natural  and  inevitable 
penalty  attaching  to  defeat.  The  Spaniards  would  have 
expected  a  similar  fate  had  they  lost  the  day,  and  would 
have  met  with  it. 

The  Admiral  now  divided  his  forces  into  numerous  par 
ties  and  sent  them  into  the  disaffected  districts  to  complete 
the  work  of  pacification,  so  called.  Sending  Don  Barthol 
omew  back  to  Isabella  as  governor,  in  his  absence,  he 
himself  marched  through  the  Vega  Real,  thence  into 
Cibao,  thence  to  Maguana,  —  the  country  of  Caonabo, — 
and  so,  by  a  wide  detour  to  the  south  and  east,  back  to 
Isabella.  This  progress  consumed  many  months;  Las 
Casas  says  it  lasted  until  the  end  of  the  year  1495.  Con 
cerning  its  incidents  not  a  great  deal  remains.  Those  vil- 


THE  PENALTY  OF  DEFEAT. 


215 


lages  and  districts  which  submitted  to  the  Spanish  authority 
were  undisturbed;  those  which  offered  any  opposition  were 
harried  with  fire  and  sword.  As  is  always  the  case,  the 
subordinate  officers  were  more  royal  than  the  King,  and 
meted  out  punishment  with  scant  regard  either  for  justice 
or  mercy.  It  is  on  record  that  the  Admiral  himself  en 
deavored  to  temper  what  he  believed  to  be  the  military  ex 
igencies  of  the  situation  with  the  exercise  of  a  more  humane 
policy.  In  some  instances  he  met  with  organized  resist 
ance,  notably  from  two  brothers  of  Caonabo,  who  endeavored 
to  avenge  the  rout  of  the  Vega.  The  result  was,  of  course, 
always  the  same,  and  the  effort  only  increased  the  straits  into 
which  the  natives  had  fallen.  Many  districts  were  aban 
doned  at  the  approach  of  the  Spaniards;  into  others  they 
could  not  penetrate.  In  some,  a  certain  amount  of  gold 
was  collected;  in  others,  large  quantities  of  cotton,  a  little 
amber,  the  highly  prized  brazil-wood,  and  so  on.  The  expe 
dition,  so  far  as  the  Admiral  was  concerned,  was  not  entirely 
for  retaliation  and  discipline;  he  wished  to  exhibit  to  the 
native  population  the  power  of  the  Spaniards,  but  he  was 
equally  desirous  to  complete  his  knowledge  of  the  island 
and  its  productions.  At  the  end  of  his  long  journey  he 
was  able  to  report  to  the  King  and  Queen  that  the  country 
was  pacified,  all  resistance  at  an  end,  and  the  people  dis 
posed  to  accept  the  Spanish  rule  without  opposition. 

In  token  of  their  subjection  he  proposed  to  establish  the 
payment  of  a  tribute.  This  was  adjusted  to  meet  the 
supposed  abilities  of  the  several  tribes.  Each  Indian, 
whether  man  or  woman,  between  the  ages  of  fourteen  and 
forty,  who  lived  in  the  vicinity  of  the  mines  or  gold-bear 
ing  rivers  of  Cibao,  the  Vega  Real,  and  Maguana,  was  to 
furnish  every  three  months  as  much  gold  as  a  hawk's-bell 
would  contain.  The  natives  of  the  other  reduced  districts 
were  to  deliver  within  the  same  period,  in  lieu  of  gold, 
twenty-five  pounds  of  raw  cotton.  As  each  Indian  paid 
his  quarterly  tax,  a  metal  token  was  to  be  given  him  as 
evidence  of  quittance  for  that  instalment.  If  he  could 
not  produce  such  evidence,  he  was  subject  to  "moderate" 
chastisement.  Unfortunately,  the  text  of  the  decree  im- 


2l6        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

posing  this  tax  has  not  been  preserved.  We  know  little  of 
it  save  its  consequences,  which  were  miserable  in  the 
last  degree.  Had  we  its  terms  to  guide  us,  some  light 
would  be  thrown  upon  a  measure  the  unwisdom  of  which 
seems  so  patent  that  it  is  difficult  to  comprehend  how 
any  one  should  have  adopted  it.  The  object  was,  obvi 
ously  enough,  to  replenish  the  royal  coffers  and  make  the 
large  and  absolutely  idle  native  population  contribute 
something  in  return  for  the  benefits,  spiritual  and  tem 
poral,  which  the  Spanish  occupation  was  supposed  to 
confer;  for  in  the  Admiral's  day,  as  in  ours,  the  untutored 
savage  was  assumed  to  be  pining  for  a  "civilization" 
whose  first  fruits  were  his  own  extermination.  It  was 
not  singular  that,  with  the  evidences  of  gold  so  abun 
dant  on  all  sides  and  with  the  recollection  of  the  free 
dom  with  which  the  natives  bartered  away  considerable 
quantities  of  it,  the  Admiral  should  require  them  to  collect 
in  three  months  the  amount  they  had  cheerfully  offered  in 
exchange  for  the  little  bells  which  were  now  made  the  meas 
ure  of  value.  What  is  strange  is  that  he  should  have  sup 
posed  whole  tribes  could  support  such  a  tax  upon  their 
strength  for  any  length  of  time.  They  had  no  idea  of  con 
tinuous  labor  and  knew  nothing  about  gathering  gold,  for 
the  most  part.  It  was  a  common  sight,  after  the  impost 
was  established,  to  see  an  Indian  heaping  up  a  pile  of  earth 
or  gravel  by  the  side  of  a  brook,  throwing  water  over  it  with 
his  hands,  and  then  searching  painfully  for  the  yellow  grains 
to  add  to  his  little  hoard.  Both  for  "mining"  and  cotton- 
planting  the  only  implement  the  native  possessed  was  a 
pointed  stick.  Under  such  conditions,  to  expect  every  man 
and  boy  in  a  wide  district  to  secure  the  stated  quantity  of 
gold  or  cotton  was  to  ignore  the  intrinsic  limitation  of  the 
case.  It  can  only  be  explained  by  the  theory  that  the 
Indians  had  literally  nothing  to  do,  and  they  themselves 
were  the  authority,  ever  since  the  first  landing  in  Hispaniola 
in  '92,  that  gold  existed  in  vast  quantities  and  could  be 
"gathered  in  the  hands."  Before  the  first  quarter-day 
arrived  it  was  clear  that  there  would  be  a  general  default 
in  the  payment  of  the  tribute.  Guarionex  stated  the  case 


THE  PENALTY   OF  DEFEAT.  2I/ 

fairly  when  he  appealed  to  the  Admiral  for  a  mitigation  of 
the  tax.  His  people  in  the  Vega  Real,  he  said,  knew  noth 
ing  about  gold  or  its  gathering;  it  was  absolutely  impossible 
for  them  to  make  up  the  required  amount.  Let  the  Admiral 
permit  them  to  pay  the  tax  in  corn,  instead  of  gold,  and  he 
would  gladly  undertake  to  plant  a  belt  of  grain  for  the  King 
of  Spain  which  should  extend  right  through  the  island,  from 
Isabella  to  the  south  coast.  At  first  the  Admiral  declined 
to  listen  to  the  representations  made  by  Guarionex;  he  saw 
no  reason  why  able-bodied  men,  as  the  natives  certainly 
were,  could  not  get  together  in  three  months  the  small 
quantity  of  gold  which  he  had  demanded.  After  much 
argument  and  entreaty,  he  yielded  to  the  accumulating  evi 
dence  in  support  of  the  cacique's  position  and  reduced  the 
tribute  by  one-half ;  thereafter,  only  the  contents  of  half  a 
hawk's-bell  were  required.  This  measure  implied,  of  course, 
a  vast  relief  to  the  Indians;  but  even  at  the  diminished  rate 
they  did  not  meet  the  demands  of  the  tribute.  In  some  of 
the  richer  districts  the  tax  was  paid,  as  in  certain  of  the 
more  fertile  ones  the  requisite  amount  of  cotton  was  forth 
coming;  but  in  general  only  a  feeble  response  was  made. 
Whether,  if  the  impost  had  been  reduce  to  a  tenth,  or  even 
less,  the  indolent  and  labor-hating  Indians  would  have  done 
any  better  is  very  doubtful.  They  did  not  know  how  to 
work,  and  either  could  not  or  would  not  learn.  The  whole 
theory  of  the  tribute  was  as  impolitic  as  it  was  unjust,  and 
it  had  no  chance  of  success.  As  the  failure  in  the  payments 
became  first  general  and  then  permanent,  the  Admiral  ap 
pointed  officials  to  visit  the  several  districts  and  endeavor 
to  secure  their  collection.  This  was,  in  substance,  handing 
over  the  natives  to  be  dealt  with  as  the  character  of  the 
collector  might  dictate.  The  Admiral's  instructions  were 
explicit  and  emphatic  that  justice  and  kindness  were  to  be 
shown  in  all  transactions  with  the  delinquents,  as  the  object 
was  to  secure  the  largest  revenues  for  the  Crown,  not  to 
chastise  the  peaceable  Indians.  The  recent  behavior  of 
Margarita  and  his  men  when  sent  among  the  friendly  tribes, 
and  the  remembrance  of  the  tyrannical  performances  of  the 
garrison  of  Navidad,  should  have  been  enough  to  cause  him 


218        THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

to  hesitate  before  placing  the  lives  of  the  defenceless  Hay- 
tians  in  the  hands  of  his  rude  and  ignorant  followers.  No 
doubt  he  assumed  that  he  could  control  his  agents;  but  this 
was  the  one  thing  which  he  did  less  successfully  than 
another.  The  inevitable  result  was  that  in  many  cases  the 
collectors  of  the  tribute  became  persecutors,  and  much 
cruelty  and  extortion  were  inflicted  on  the  unfortunate  tax 
payers.  The  natives  learned  to  dread  the  sight  of  a  Span 
iard  in  many  districts  and  to  flee  to  the  mountains  and 
woods  at  their  approach.  This  exposed  them  to  the  con 
venient  charge  of  resistance,  and  that  meant  violence,  cap 
tivity,  or  death,  according  to  the  disposition  of  the  collector. 
With  only  the  choice  between  a  life  of  what  to  them  was 
intolerable  effort,  and  the  loss  of  life  or  liberty,  the  Indians 
gradually  abandoned  all  hope  of  satisfying  their  new  lords 
and  forsook  en  masse  their  homes  and  plantations,  prefer 
ring  a  precarious  but  free  life  among  the  sierras  to  the  hard 
ships  of  the  white  men's  rule.  At  first,  the  more  ignorant 
among  them  hoped  that  such  a  course  would  cause  the 
Spaniards  to  despair  of  ever  getting  enough  of  the  coveted 
gold  to  make  it  worth  their  while  continuing  the  effort, 
and  that  sooner  or  later  they  would  take  to  their  ships  and 
sail  away  as  suddenly  as  they  had  come.  But  work  con 
tinued  at  Isabella,  two  new  forts  were  commenced  in  the 
Vega,  the  Admiral  pursued  his  journey  through  the  central 
provinces,  and  his  officers  with  their  parties  persistently 
invaded  district  after  district  in  their  inquisition  after  the 
tribute;  so  that  in  time  the  natives  learned  that  their  sacri 
fices  availed  nothing  and  that  the  strangers  were  a  fixture  in 
the  land.  The  very  general  cessation  of  planting  and  sow 
ing  did  inflict  upon  the  Spaniards  no  small  distress  and 
embarrassment,  and  when  the  revenue  chasers  entered  the 
mountain  country  they  had  often  to  make  shift  with  roots 
and  wild  fruits,  as  did  the  disheartened  people  whom  they 
were  tracking  down ;  but,  in  the  long  run,  the  real  suffer 
ing  fell  upon  the  Indians  themselves.  It  was  no  mere 
boast,  that  in  which  one  of  the  Spaniards  indulged,  when 
he  said  of  his  countrymen,  "the  hungrier  they  are  the 
more  tenacious  they  are,  and  the  more  disposed  to  suffer 


THE  PENALTY  OF  DEFEAT.  2 1C) 

and  to  make  suffer."     It  was  the  creed  of  the  conquistador 
epitomized. 

To  Columbus  the  situation  was  one  of  profound  discour 
agement,  little  less  in  degree  than  that  which  confronted 
him  upon  his  return  from  Cuba.  He  had  put  down  the 
insurrection  among  the  natives  at  the  price  of  widespread 
devastation  and  a  distrust  beyond  all  remedy.  Foiled  in 
his  plans  for  a  systematic  and  legitimate  working  of  the  gold- 
bearing  rocks  and  gravels,  he  had  endeavored  to  ensure  its 
equivalent  to  the  royal  treasury  by  the  imposition  of  a  trib 
ute  which  the  universal  customs  of  war  recognized  as  fit  and 
commendable.  This  effort  likewise  promised  to  be  futile 
and  to  involve  him  in  a  policy  of  severity  and  persecution 
little  in  consonance  with  the  relations  he  had  expected 
to  maintain  with  the  natives.  The  failure  of  both  these 
plans  for  raising  revenue  accentuated  the  peril  in  which,  as 
he  fully  realized,  his  credit  with  Ferdinand  and  Isabella 
was  involved.  The  outlays  in  connection  with  the  colony 
had  been  enormous,  the  returns  pitifully  small.  So  far  from 
being  even  self-supporting,  the  intrigues  and  demoralization 
at  Isabella  had  prevented  any  methodical  execution  of  his 
really  far-seeing  projects,  while  disease  had  more  than 
decimated  his  followers  and  left  the  survivors  all  but  inca 
pacitated  for  any  useful  work.  All  this,  he  knew,  was  at 
this  very  time  being  iterated  and  reiterated  to  the  King  and 
Queen  by  men  who  had  their  confidence,  and  who  hated  him 
with  all  the  malice  of  arrogance  rebuked  and  pride  offended, 
added  to  the  contempt  of  race  and  caste.  In  the  justice  of 
their  Majesties  and  the  loyalty  of  his  own  good  friends  he 
had  unshaken  confidence,  but  the  censures  and  insinuations 
of  his  enemies  derive  their  best  support  from  the  very  con 
dition  of  affairs  which  he  saw  confronting  him.  Instead  of 
the  evangelization  of  the  natives  upon  which  so  much  stress 
had  been  laid,  here  were  destruction  and  war;  instead  of  a 
steady  stream  of  gold,  a  constant  requisition  for  new  ex 
pense;  instead  of  a  flourishing,  united,  and  successful  col 
ony,  a  long  record  of  disaster  and  discord.  There  remained 
only  the  "slave  trade,"  of  which  we  have  heard  so  much; 
but  Columbus  was  too  familiar  with  arithmetic  and  the 


220       THE  LAST    VOYAGES    OF   THE   ADMIRAL. 

resources  of  Hispaniola  to  imagine  that  he  was  going  to 
be  able  to  obtain  a  hundred  thousand  slaves  there,  or,  if 
he  did  so,  dispose  of  any  such  number  in  Spain,  or  in  all 
Europe,  and  thus  amortize  the  costs  of  colonizing  this  one 
island.  A  few  cargoes  of  captured  Indians  would  help 
matters  financially,  ecclesiastically,  and  politically, —  for 
what  other  disposition  was  to  be  made  of  such  prisoners  of 
war?  —  but  they  were  merely  an  item,  not  a  basis,  of  rev 
enue.  In  his  own  heart,  dark  as  was  the  present  outlook, 
there  was  room  neither  for  doubt  nor  fear  as  to  the  ultimate 
future  of  his  whole  gigantic  enterprise.  Reap  the  reward 
who  might,  he  knew  the  end  must  be  success.  With  the  vast 
panorama  of  his  voyages  through  the  Caribs'  Islands,  along 
the  Cuban  shores,  past  the  long  coasts  of  Jamaica  and  His 
paniola,  clearly  pictured  in  his  mind,  he,  at  least,  realized 
what  their  Majesties  of  Spain  had  received  in  exchange  for 
their  ducats  and  maravedies.  With  his  fund  of  accumulated 
knowledge  and  information,  he  held  with  abiding  confidence 
to  the  faith  that  far  greater  returns  were  yet  in  store  for 
them.  The  present  confusion  and  partial  frustration  of  his 
and  their  anticipations  was  not  fairly  chargeable  to  him. 
He  had  been  brought  into  it  in  a  swoon  and  left  to  fight  his 
way  out  as  best  he  could.  Before  long,  the  island  would 
settle  down,  a  revenue  be  assured  by  peaceful  means,  and 
he  be  at  liberty  to  satisfy  his  sovereigns  that  this  western 
world  held  more  than  islands, —  vast,  fertile,  and  wealth- 
abounding  as  these  were.  Until  then,  he  should  pursue  his 
way  with  unabated  energy  and  act  as  to  him  seemed  best 
for  the  interests  of  the  King  and  Queen  whose  deputy  he 
was.  However  little  we  may  agree  with  some  of  his  meth 
ods,  no  one  can  fail  to  respect  the  undaunted  courage  and 
inalterable  faith  of  this  sore-tried  sailor-Viceroy. 

Meantime,  matters  were  shaping  themselves  evilly  for  him 
in  Spain.  Boil  and  Margarite  reached  Cadiz  at  the  end  of 
November,  '94,  a  few  weeks  after  Torres  had  sailed  for 
Isabella.  They  lost  no  time  in  presenting  themselves 
before  the  King  and  Queen  at  Madrid  and  unfolding  their 
budget  of  grievances.  According  to  them,  the  whole  enter 
prise  of  the  Indies  was  a  delusion  and  a  snare,  invented  and 


THE  PENALTY  OF  DEFEAT.  221 

sustained  by  Columbus  for  his  own  aggrandizement.  There 
was  no  gold  worth  the  trouble  of  gathering,  no  spices  worth 
the  curing,  no  products  which  would  repay  the  cost  of  col 
lection.  The  climate  was  deadly,  and  the  inhabitants  naked 
barbarians.  The  colony  was  badly  situated  and  worse  gov 
erned.  The  foreign  parvenu  whom  the  sovereigns  had 
placed  as  Viceroy  over  so  many  of  their  noble  and  spirited 
subjects  had  outraged  the  pride  and  dignity  of  gentlemen 
by  compelling  them  to  work  like  common  hinds  and  accept 
a  scanty  dole  of  wretched  fare.  Not  satisfied  with  humili 
ating  his  superiors  in  the  social  scale,  he  had  impiously 
obliged  the  clergy  to  live  on  short  commons  like  their  half- 
starved  flock.  When  hidalgos  and  priests  alike  resented 
such  coarse  measures,  he,  or  his  brother  in  his  absence,  had 
cut  down  their  rations  still  farther,  imprisoned  some  of  the 
critics,  and  punished  others  yet  more  severely.  His  brothers 
were  more  insupportable  than  himself,  because  less  en 
titled  to  recognition  for  their  achievements.  The  Viceroy 
had  sailed  away,  leaving  his  powers  in  the  hands  of  Don 
Diego,  who  had  thereupon  attempted  to  lord  it  still  more 
offensively  over  the  unhappy  Castilians.  Where  the  Viceroy 
himself  had  gone,  no  one  knew;  it  was  more  than  doubtful 
whether  he  should  ever  be  seen  again.  The  relators  had 
borne  this  wretched  condition  of  affairs  as  long  as  they  could, 
and  had  at  last  felt  that  their  duty  to  their  sovereigns  de 
manded  that  they  return  to  Spain  and  lay  the  truth  of  the 
whole  matter  before  their  Majesties.  Whatever  might  be 
the  outcome,  this  at  least  was  certain, —  the  Crown  would 
never  receive  any  return  from  these  new  lands  commen 
surate  with  the  sacrifices  it  had  cost  to  secure  them  and 
those  which  would  be  needful  to  retain  them.  The  vaunted 
Indies  were  neither  more  nor  less  than  a  yawning  pit  for  the 
royal  treasure,  and  a  certain  grave  for  the  loyal  servants  of 
the  Crown.  Supported  as  they  were  by  the  stories  of  their 
fellow-malcontents  who  had  returned  with  them,  and  by  the 
letters  and  depositions  of  those  who  had  not  been  able  to 
leave  Isabella,  the  representations  of  these  influential  place 
men  had  no  little  weight  with  Ferdinand  and  Isabella. 
An  active  intrigue  was  set  on  foot  against  Columbus,  backed 


222        THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

with  all.  the  ingenuity  of  envy  and  disappointed  ambition; 
and  for  some  time  it  seemed  destined  to  success.  If  their 
Majesties  were  not  moved  to  act  immediately  in  the  direc 
tion  desired  by  Boil  and  Margarite,  they  at  least  went  so  far 
as  to  seriously  consider  the  wisdom  of  some  such  step.  No 
doubt  the  violence  of  the  Admiral's  accusers  somewhat 
detracted  from  the  credibility  of  their  assertions,  and  there 
was,  moreover,  a  certain  amount  of  evidence  in  his  favor 
received  by  the  same  vessels,  including  a  remittance  of 
gold  in  dust  and  nuggets  of  sufficient  importance  to  warrant 
its  coinage  and  use  in  buying  fresh  supplies  for  Isabella. 
But  when  the  new  year  opened,  and  the  weeks  went  by  with 
out  any  further  word  from  beyond  the  seas  of  Viceroy  or 
colonists,  the  King  and  Queen  began  to  fear  that  the  worst 
had  happened  to  both,  and  ordered  the  early  departure  of 
four  caravels  which  were  to  bear  ample  provisions  and 
supplies,  in  accordance  with  the  Admiral's  own  former 
requisitions,  and  on  which  was  to  go  a  commissioner 
empowered  to  investigate  the  charges  made  by  Boil  and  his 
friends  and  make  a  report  upon  the  condition  of  affairs  in 
general.  This  squadron  was  to  sail  in  March  and  was  to  be 
followed  by  four  other  caravels  in  May  or  June.  In  pursu 
ance  again  of  the  Admiral's  suggestions,  a  contract  was 
entered  into  (with  Juanoto  Berardi,  Vespucci's  employer) 
for  furnishing  twelve  vessels  in  all,  as  they  might  be  required, 
at  a  fixed  rate  per  ton;  and  Fonseca  was  directed  to  hasten 
the  despatch  of  the  first  four.  The  reason  alleged  by  their 
Majesties  for  this  urgency,  in  writing  to  him,  was  "because 
we  somewhat  fear  that  God  has  disposed  of  the  Admiral  of 
the  Indies  on  the  voyage  which  he  undertook,  as  so  long  a 
time  has  passed  since  we  heard  anything  from  him."  The 
real  motive  lay  probably  in  the  next  sentence, —  "We  have 
therefore  decided  to  send  out  Commander  Diego  Carrillo 
and  another  personage  of  confidence,  who  shall  provide  for 
everything  out  there  if  the  Admiral  be  absent,  and  even  if 
he  is  present  shall  remedy  those  matters  which  it  is  desira 
ble  to  remedy,  according  to  the  information  we  have  had 
from  those  who  have  arrived  from  there."  Carrillo  was  to 
go  out  with  the  second  squadron;  the  "other  personage," 


THE  PENALTY   OF  DEFEAT.  22$ 

who  was  to  go  on  the  vessels  now  preparing  for  sea,  was  left 
at  first  to  Fonseca's  choice,  but  before  he  had  exercised  it 
their  Majesties  wrote  again  and  directed  him  to  appoint 
Juan  de  Aguado  to  the  position  of  captain  of  the  little  fleet 
and  royal  commissioner.  This  worthy,  it  will  be  remem 
bered,  had  sailed  with  the  Admiral  on  the  voyage  of  colon 
ization  in  '93,  and  returned  with  Torres,  who  was  especially 
charged  by  Columbus  in  his  Memorial  to  recommend 
Aguado  to  the  sovereigns  for  having  "well  and  diligently 
served  in  everything  he  had  been  ordered  to  do."  There 
is  no  reason  to  believe  that  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  chose 
the  man  for  this  post  because  he  had  become  an  intriguer 
against  his  commander;  but  it  is  not  easy  to  see  how  any 
loyal  subordinate  could  have  accepted  the  task,  now  given  to 
Aguado,  of  investigating  that  commander's  actions.  Prob 
ably  he  was  merely  one  of  those  invertebrate  entities  whose 
only  chance  of  elevation  is  over  their  prostrate  benefactors. 
At  all  events,  he  accepted  the  task  of  acting  as  spy  against 
Columbus  and  rendered  invaluable  assistance  to  the  cabal 
laboring  for  his  humiliation. 

The  instructions  given  by  their  Majesties  concerning  this 
mission,  in  the  letter  to  Fonseca  already  quoted,  well  por 
tray  the  confusion  of  mind  in  which  they  were  involved  by 
reason  of  their  desire  to  believe  in  their  Admiral  and  in  Boil 
at  the  same  time.  As  we  have  seen,  if  Columbus  were 
absent  from  the  colony,  Aguado  was  to  take  charge  of 
everything;  if  the  Admiral  were  present,  the  commissioner 
was  to  "remedy"  what  was  out  of  sorts.  He  was  to  hear 
the  complaints  which  were  made  by  each  side  against  the 
other,  inform  himself  minutely  of  the  true  position  of 
affairs  in  the  colony, —  "how  it  is  governed  and  what  re 
forms  are  necessary;  at  whose  door  lies  the  blame  for  what 
ever  wrong  has  been  done  or  is  doing  there,"  —  and  then 
return  to  Spain  and  make  a  report  of  all  that  he  had 
learned.  Some  sense  was  shown  in  forbidding  any  one  of 
the  malcontents  from  returning  with  Aguado  to  Hispaniola 
and  so  stirring  up  more  mischief,  and  an  appearance  of 
impartiality,  in  ordering  him  to  inquire  also  how  these  ex- 
ofricials  had  discharged  their  duties.  But  the  utter  folly  of 


224        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

the  whole  commission,  as  an  administrative  measure,  was 
displayed  in  the  authority  given  to  Aguado  to  ignore  the 
Admiral.  He  was  to  have  charge  of  all  the  provisions  and 
supplies  with  which  the  caravels  were  laden,  and  was  to 
"divide  them  in  the  presence  of  the  Admiral,  should  he 
be  there,  and  if  not,  before  those  who  may  be  present." 
Finally,  he  was  to  be  instructed  by  Fonseca,  "  that  he  must 
act  in  strict  conformity  with  these  directions, —  but  if  he 
should  find  the  Admiral  [in  the  colony]  he  was  to  be  under 
his  authority  in  all  things  "  !  Here  was  a  rare  opportunity 
for  a  meddlesome  and  conceited  courtier  to  put  a  too  suc 
cessful  newcomer  in  his  right  place.  If  the  Admiral  should 
point  to  one  phrase  as  limiting  Aguado' s  powers,  the  latter 
could  retort  by  showing  another  clause  making  him  entirely 
independent  of  the  Admiral.  The  commission  was  a  strik 
ing  example  of  the  vacillation  exhibited  by  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella  in  their  attitude  toward  Columbus  and  of  their 
seemingly  uncontrollable  propensity  to  interfere,  at  every 
stage,  in  the  direction  of  affairs  falling  specifically  within 
his  official  jurisdiction.  He  was  not  gifted  with  great 
executive  ability  at  best,  but  had  he  been  less  loyal  to  his 
sovereigns'  commands,  and  more  independent,  he  would 
probably  have  succeeded  better.  As  it  was,  no  viceroy 
could  have  been  successful  in  the  face  of  the  persistent 
and  disconcerting  intervention  of  the  King  and  Queen. 

The  preparations  for  the  despatch  of  Aguado  were  actively 
proceeding  when  Antonio  de  Torres  arrived,  on  April  roth, 
with  his  four  slave-laden  vessels.  His  coming  caused  a 
marked  revolution  in  the  sentiments  of  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella.  He  brought  despatches  from  the  Admiral  an 
nouncing  the  safe  completion  of  his  voyage  to  Cuba  and 
Jamaica,  and  of  the  supposed  identification  of  the  former 
with  the  Asiatic  continent.  His  own  testimony  to  the 
position  of  affairs  at  Isabella  was  favorable  to  the  Admiral, 
and,  besides,  he  was  accompanied  by  Don  Diego,  who  was 
prepared  to  champion  his  brother's  cause  with  a  complete 
knowledge  of  all  the  facts  distorted  by  Boil  and  Margarite. 
True,  the  latter 's  faction  received  an  important  accession  in 
the  person  of  Bernal  de  Pisa,  but  this  dignitary  returned  in 


THE  PENALTY   OF  DEFEAT. 


22$ 


disgrace,  sent  home  by  the  Admiral  at  their  Majesties'  ex 
press  commandment.  Moreover,  Torres  brought  a  tangible 
earnest  of  the  colony's  productiveness  in  the  gold,  copper, 
brazil  and  other  dye-woods,  cotton  and  other  commodities 
which  his  ships  contained.  As  for  the  slaves,  they  were  so 
much  ready  money,  and  were  accepted  as  such  by  the  sov 
ereigns.  It  is  almost  amusing,  in  view  of  the  efforts  which 
have  been  made  to  contrast  the  cruelty  of  Columbus  with 
the  enlightened  humanity  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  to 
find  the  latter,  in  the  same  letter  in  which  they  acknowl 
edge  the  news  of  Torres 's  arrival,  saying  to  Fonseca  that 
"  it  seems  to  us  that  the  Indians  can  be  sold  to  better  ad 
vantage  there  in  Andalusia  than  anywhere  else :  do  you 
have  them  sold  as  to  you  may  seem  best."  l  The  effect  of 
this  opportune  arrival  was  distinctly  favorable  to  Columbus. 
The  very  fact  that  he  was  alive  and  back  at  his  post  de 
prived  his  adversaries  of  their  chief  argument.  The  equip 
ment  of  Aguado's  squadron  was  not  suspended,  for  the 
reports  brought  by  Torres  only  confirmed  the  urgent  need 
of  supplies  for  Isabella;  but  the  King  and  Queen  evidently 
leaned  again  more  towards  the  Admiral's  side  than  that  of 
his  detractors,  and  insisted  upon  the  officers  of  the  Crown 
respecting  his  authority  and  wishes.  Fonseca  wished  to 
lay  claim  to  some  gold  brought  by  Don  Diego,  as  his  per 
sonal  property,  and  also  refused  to  honor  the  demand  of 
the  Admiral's  agent  for  the  one-eighth  part  of  the  gold  and 
slaves  brought  by  Torres;  but  their  Majesties  very  emphat 
ically  directed  him  to  permit  Don  Diego  to  keep  his  gold 
and  Juanoto  to  draw  out  the  full  share  to  which  Columbus 
was  entitled  under  his  agreement  with  the  Crown.  Fonseca 
was  evidently  bent  on  putting  difficulties  in  the  way  of  re- 
enforcing  the  Admiral's  exchequer,  for  it  took  no  less  than 

1  It  is  true  that  a  few  days  later  they  ordered  Fonseca  not  to  deliver 
any  of  these  Indians  to  their  buyers  until  their  Majesties  had  an  oppor 
tunity  to  learn,  in  discharge  of  their  delicate  consciences,  from  the 
Admiral's  letters,  whether  the  captives  were  taken  in  war  or  kid 
napped;  but  Fonseca  was  to  take  care  that  the  intending  purchasers 
"  do  not  know  anything  of  this."  Columbus  at  least  had  the  courage 
of  his  convictions,  and  made  no  secret  of  his  actions.  The  Indians 
were  duly  sold,  we  may  add,  and  some  sent  to  man  the  galleys. 

15 


226        THE   LAST    VOYAGES    OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

four  letters  from  the  sovereigns  to  secure  his  final  obedience. 
He  gained  little  by  the  obstruction,  however,  for  in  one  of 
them  his   royal  master    and    mistress   added  a  command 
which  must  have  been  peculiarly  distasteful   to  the  sulky 
bishop.     "  By  those  who  go  out  in  the  caravels  now  load 
ing,"  they  wrote  him,  "you  must  write  to  the  Admiral  all 
that  you  think  needful  to  remove  whatever  disagreement  he 
may  have  with  you,  and  you  must  try  to  learn  from  those 
who  have  just  arrived  from  the  Indies  what  you  ought  to 
do  in  order   to    satisfy  him,   so  that   everything   may  be 
smoothed  over  by  you,  and  do  what  is  necessary."     Clearly 
the  pendulum  of  royal  favor  had  temporarily  swung  over  to 
the  Admiral's  side.     The  timely  return  of  Torres  with  his 
reports  and  cargoes  had  given  the  lie  direct  to  the  most 
serious  accusations  of    Boil  and  his  partisans,    and  what 
remained  of  their  allegations  might  safely  be  set  down  as 
malicious  exaggeration.     If,  while  ordering  Fonseca  to  do 
all  that  he   could  to  conciliate  Columbus,  the  King  and 
Queen  had  likewise  directed  the  issue  of  revised  instruc 
tions  to  Aguado,  much  of    the  future  trouble  might  have 
been  avoided.     As  it  was,  the  commissioner  took  out  his 
original    ambiguous  credentials,   and    the    Admiral    found 
himself  confronted  with   these   at  the   same  time  that  he 
received  an  apparently  sincere  commendation  of  his  course 
from  their  Majesties  direct.     If  this  was  royal  diplomacy, 
intended  to  discredit  their  Viceroy  in  fact  while  seeming 
to  sustain  him,  it  was  of  an  extremely  low  order;  if  it  was 
negligence,  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  how  it  was  possible. 


XII. 

INVESTIGATION    AND    VINDICATION. 

AGUADO  did  not  leave  Spain  with  his  four  caravels 
until  August.  There  were  delays  in  chartering  the 
vessels  and  in  loading  them,  and  the  King  and  Queen  were 
too  much  preoccupied  with  the  affairs  of  their  kingdoms  to 
give  any  prolonged  consideration  to  the  fitting  out  of  a  few 
ships  for  their  Indian  colony.  They  had  promptly  issued 
the  necessary  orders  and  the  rest  was  in  Fonseca's  hands. 
Perhaps  the  delay  which  ensued  was  unavoidable,  but  it  is 
doing  no  injustice  to  the  reputation  of  the  worthy  prelate 
having  the  matter  in  charge  to  suggest  that  he  found  it  agree 
able  to  hold  back  as  long  as  practicable  the  supplies  intended 
for  the  Admiral.  On  the  2nd  of  June,  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella  wrote  him  to  take  whatever  vessels  he  could  find, 
"so  that  they  may  not  be  delayed  a  single  hour,"  and  two 
months  thereafter  they  were  ready  to  sail.  They  took  out 
a  widely  assorted  cargo,  in  compliance  with  the  Admiral's 
requisitions.  Large  quantities  of  provision  —  wheat,  barley, 
bacon,  salt-fish,  biscuit,  figs,  sugar,  rice,  almonds,  wine,  oil, 
and  vinegar  —  were  taken ;  mares,  asses,  calves,  sheep, 
chickens,  swine,  and  rabbits  for  breeding;  canvas,  cotton, 
pitch,  tallow,  and  oakum  for  shipbuilding;  rice,  barley, 
seeds,  and  cuttings  for  planting,  and  a  huge  store  of  lesser 
articles  of  comfort  or  necessity.  The  losses  which  had 
occurred  among  the  more  useful  class  of  colonists  by  death 
or  sickness  were  supplied  by  new  men.  Field  laborers,  a 
master  millwright,  a  master  armorer,  mining  experts  and 
laborers,  a  physician,  a  surgeon,  an  apothecary,  some 

227 


228        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE   ADMIRAL. 

coopers,  a  horseshoer,  several  fishermen  with  their  boats, 
and  artisans  of  all  the  trades  already  represented  at  Isabella 
were  sent  out,  to  allow  the  return  of  those  who  desired  to 
leave  the  colony.  Finally,  more  dogs  —  bulldogs  and  mas 
tiffs —  were  also  sent,  "to  protect  the  supplies  and  for  the 
security  of  the  people,"  —  an  indication  that  the  importa 
tion  of  these  animals  was  not  necessarily  due  to  cruelty. 
The  list  which  was  prepared  by  Columbus  shows  a  well- 
conceived  and  thorough  plan  for  rendering  the  colony 
self-supporting,  and  a  careful  attention  to  details.  Had 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella  been  content  to  let  the  fleet  sail 
with  its  helpful  lading  of  men  and  supplies,  and  left  their 
Viceroy  to  work  out  his  own  projects  with  the  aid  thus 
opportunely  afforded,  the  past  disasters  would  have  been  in 
great  part  remedied  and  those  of  the  future  wholly  avoided. 
Instead,  Aguado,  in  addition  to  the  confused  instructions 
to  which  we  have  already  referred,  carried  with  him  this 
enigmatical  mandate :  — 

"  To  the  knights,  squires,  and  other  persons  who  are  by  our 
orders  in  the  Indies.  We  are  sending  out  yonder  Juan  Aguado, 
our  gentleman-in-waiting,  who  will  speak  with  you  on  our  behalf. 
We  command  you  to  give  him  faith  and  credence.  Madrid,  the 
9th  of  April,  1495.  I,  the  King.  I,  the  Queen.11 

He  bore  other  letters  from  their  Majesties  to  individuals 
at  Isabella,  and  also  several  to  the  Admiral  himself.  Two 
of  these  latter  have  been  preserved.  They  are  dated  June  i  st, 
seven  weeks  later  than  the  extraordinary  powers  conferred 
on  Aguado,  and,  while  dry  and  abrupt,  do  not  intimate  that 
the  Viceroy's  authority  had  been  superseded.  It  may  have 
been  of  no  especial  significance  that  in  them  Columbus  was 
addressed  merely  as  "our  Admiral  of  the  Ocean  Sea,"  with 
out  his  joint  title  of  Viceroy  of  the  Indies,  but  with  such  a 
monarch  as  Ferdinand  the  omission  was  not  likely  to  be  acci 
dental.  In  the  first  of  these  communications  the  Admiral  was 
told  to  permit  as  many  of  the  colonists  to  return  to  Spain  as 
desired  to  do  so,  and  to  reduce  the  total  number  retained  in 
Hispaniola  to  500,  "because  it  seems  to  us  that  there  are 
a  great  many  people  out  there  who  are  drawing  salaries, 


INVESTIGATION  AND    VINDICATION.  2  29 

and  it  is  a  great  expense  and  trouble  to  send  out  provis 
ions."     As  fast  as  newcomers  arrived  from  Spain  a  cor 
responding  number  of  the  earlier  settlers  were  to  be  sent 
back,  so  as  to  keep  the  population  of  the  colony  always  at 
the  figure  stated.     In  the  second  missive  their  Majesties 
touched  upon  the  burning  question  of  the  curtailment  of 
rations,  out  of  which  the  malcontents  made  so  much  capi 
tal.     "We  have  been  informed,"  they  wrote,  "that  in  the 
past,  especially  while  you  were  absent  from  Hispaniola,  the 
provisions  were  not  divided  among  the  people  who  were 
there,  and  those  who  yet  remain,  as  they  should  have  been, 
and  that  for  whatever  offence  any  one  of  them  committed  the 
ration  was  withdrawn,  by  which  many  of  them  were  placed 
in  peril."     The  Admiral  was  therefore  instructed  to  appor 
tion  the  provisions,  in  the  future,  in  strict  accordance  with 
a  list  prepared  by  Fonseca,  which  accompanied  the  letter, 
whereby  each  colonist  was  to  receive  his  share  every  fortnight. 
Under  no  circumstances  were  these  rations  to  be  diminished 
to  or  withdrawn  from  any  one,  "  unless  the  offences  should 
be  such  as  to  merit  the  pain  of  death,  for  the  withholding  of 
the  provisions  from  any  one  is  equal  to  this  penalty."     If 
this  rebuke  was  somewhat  softened  by  the  allusion  to  the 
Admiral's  absence,  it  was  none  the  less  a  victory  for  his 
adversaries;    and   its   promulgation    in  the  colony,    when 
coupled  with  the  mysterious  discretion  entrusted  to  Aguado, 
was  sure  to  be  received  as  an  abatement  of  the  Admiral's 
authority.     The  whole  episode  is  clouded  and  confused; 
one  fact  only  is  incontestable, —  that  no  governor  or  vice 
roy  could  possibly  achieve  a  measure  of  success  when  sub 
jected  to  such  humiliating  and  perplexing  interferences. 
The  sequel  proves  that  it  was  not  the  intention  of  Ferdi 
nand  and  Isabella  to  subject  Columbus  to  the  exasperating 
indignities  which  flowed  from  their  ill-digested  orders;  but 
a  conflict  of  jurisdiction  was  inevitable  unless  their  com 
missioner  was  a  man  of  rare  sagacity  and  self-control,  and 
in  this  case  he  possessed  neither  of  these  qualities.     To  a 
person  filled  with  a  sense  of  his  own  importance,  and  bent 
upon  asserting  it  in  frank  opposition  to  the  already  consti 
tuted  authority,  the  opportunity  for  mischief  was  unlimited. 


230        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

Aguado  reached  Isabella  in  October,  and  Don  Diego 
with  him.  Columbus  was  then  in  Maguana,  carrying  on 
operations  against  the  brothers  of  Caonabo,  who  had  again 
attempted  to  revenge  themselves  upon  the  Spanish  in 
truders.  When  the  commissioner  arrived  he  lost  no  time 
in  asserting  publicly  that  he  held  certain  broad  and 
supreme  powers  from  the  Crown.  He  imprisoned  several 
members  of  the  crew  which  had  brought  him  over,  for 
some  alleged  lack  of  reverence  or  obedience,  endeavored 
to  interpose  in  matters  of  colonial  government,  and  made 
little  case  of  Don  Bartholomew  and  the  town  council. 
The  absence  of  the  Admiral  was  a  sore  affliction  to 
Aguado,  for  he  could  not  officially  proclaim  his  own 
authority  and  institute  his  intended  "reforms"  until  the 
royal  letters  had  been  delivered.  He  therefore  proposed  to 
go  in  search  of  Columbus,  with  a  view  of  more  quickly 
assuming  the  jurisdiction  with  which  he  fancied  himself 
clothed.  Gathering  together  a  small  force  of  horse  and 
foot,  he  started  out  for  Maguana.  As  in  Isabella  he  had 
originated,  or  permitted,  the  rumor  that  he  had  come  to 
supplant  Columbus,  so  now,  as  his  party  crossed  the  Vega 
Real  in  the  direction  of  Maguana,  they  spread  broadcast  the 
report  that  "a  new  Admiral  "  had  come  to  take  the  place  of 
the  "old  Admiral."  The  consequence  was,  naturally,  to 
induce  nine  out  of  ten  among  the  hearers  to  look  upon 
Columbus  as  deprived  of  his  rank,  and  to  foster  all  kinds  of 
hopes  among  Europeans  and  natives  alike. 

Don  Bartholomew  meantime  had  despatched  messengers 
to  his  brother,  informing  him  of  the  new  complications, 
and  the  Admiral  responded  by  making  a  hurried  march  to 
Isabella.  Advised  of  his  coming,  Aguado  retraced  the 
road  to  the  town  and  there  met  his  former  commander  and 
endorser.  When  he  proffered  the  royal  letters  and  creden 
tials,  Columbus  declined  to  receive  them  unless  in  public 
and  with  the  ceremony  befitting  the  arrival  of  a  commis 
sion  from  the  Crown.  The  little  army  was  drawn  up  in 
the  plaza,  all  the  officials  and  colonists  then  in  the  town 
were  present  in  gala  costume,  the  trumpets  were  sounded, 
and,  with  such  state  as  he  could  muster,  the  Viceroy  re- 


INVESTIGATION  AND    VINDICATION.  2$l 

ceived  the  commissioner.  When  the  documents  were  pre 
sented,  he  accepted  them  in  dignified  silence  and  retired  to 
read  those  which  had  not  been  read  aloud  to  the  assem 
blage.  All  this  was  formally  set  forth  in  the  acta  pre 
pared  at  the  time  by  the  royal  notaries,  but,  notwithstanding 
such  official  testimony,  Aguado  afterwards  claimed  that 
Columbus  had  acted  with  studied  disrespect  and  indiffer 
ence  towards  the  bearer  of  the  royal  commands.  This  was 
merely  the  beginning  of  a  long  train  of  vulgar  and  ostenta 
tious  arrogance.  Interpreting  his  contradictory  instruc 
tions  to  suit  his  own  aims,  and  appealing  to  the  singular 
letters  of  credence  which  had  been  proclaimed  by  the 
Admiral  himself,  Aguado  pursued  a  course  of  intrigue, 
misrepresentation,  and  usurpation  which  had  for  its  avowed 
object  the  destruction  of  the  last  vestige  of  the  Admiral's 
authority  and  prerogatives.  It  requires  no  great  famil 
iarity  with  the  conditions  prevailing  in  a  remote  colony, 
composed  of  such  elements  as  was  that  of  Isabella,  to 
comprehend  the  effects  of  his  actions.  The  old  king  was 
dead;  with  the  new  one  were  the  keys  of  the  money-chest 
and  storehouses,  and  the  gift  of  places.  Under  the  Admi 
ral's  government  the  colonists  had  been  hungry,  hard- 
worked,  and  severely  disciplined;  under  the  beneficent 
commissioner  they  were  comparatively  well-fed,  relieved 
from  their  labors,  and  permitted  to  do  pretty  much  as  they 
pleased.  They  ignored  the  fact  that  the  very  provisions 
they  were  eating  had  been  sent  out  in  compliance  with 
their  own  governor's  far-sighted  requisitions,  that  their  tasks 
had  been  essential  to  their  own  safety,  and  that  the  former 
scarcity  of  food  was  directly  traceable  to  their  own  excesses 
and  insubordination.  All  they  cared  to  know  was  that  there 
were  meat,  biscuit,  and  wine  to  be  had,  and  that  work  on 
mills,  roads,  fort,  and  government  house  was  at  an  end.  In 
like  manner,  the  Indians  recovered  boldness  and  energy. 
The  Guamiquina,  or  "  Almirante,"  as  they  had  learned  from 
the  Spaniards  to  call  him,  was  dethroned,  and  they  believed 
they  had  less  cause  to  fear  the  new  chief.  Several  of  the 
more  daring  caciques  banded  together  again  and  revived  the 
insurrectionary  spirit,  refusing  to  pay  tribute  and  renewing 


232 


THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 


their  hopes  of  sooner  or  later  casting  the  white  men  from 
their  shores.  Had  the  issue  depended  upon  the  King's 
ex-gentleman-in-waiting,  they  would  very  possibly  have  suc 
ceeded. 

Under  all  this  provocation  the  Admiral  seems  to  have 
borne  himself  with  moderation  and  dignity.  Las  Casas, 
who  never  spares  him  when  there  is  cause  for  criticism, 
says  that  he  "treated  Juan  Aguado  always  very  well,  as 
though  he  were  a  count."  The  same  chronicler  declares 
that  he  makes  this  statement  with  a  full  knowledge  of  all 
the  facts,  gathered  from  eye-witnesses  and  a  careful  exami 
nation  of  the  records.  Yielding  no  jot  of  his  prerogative, 
exercising  his  authority,  as  far  as  he  could,  with  his  ac 
customed  activity  and  decision,  Columbus  met  the  arro 
gance  of  his  rival  with  irritating  calmness,  and  absolutely 
ignored  him  in  all  the  affairs  of  the  island  beyond  the 
town  walls.  Aguado,  in  fact,  soon  busied  himself  more 
in  working  up  an  elaborate  indictment  of  the  Admiral's 
administration  than  in  endeavoring  to  institute  a  govern 
ment  of  his  own.  Like  too  many  other  reformers,  his 
abilities  lay  rather  in  the  direction  of  disturbance  than  of 
amelioration.  When  his  claims  or  actions  clashed  with 
those  of  Columbus,  the  latter  upheld  his  own  rights  with 
pertinacity,  and,  despite  a  certain  inevitable  loss  of  prestige, 
managed  to  sustain  his  position  effectively.  The  following 
of  Aguado  was  the  more  numerous,  but  that  of  the  Admiral 
more  influential.  Such  a  condition  could  not  long  con 
tinue.  Aguado,  after  a  few  months  of  turmoil  and  intrigue, 
announced  his  intention  of  returning  to  Spain  and  laying 
his  reports  and  recommendations  before  the  King  and 
Queen.  To  his  publicly  asserted  intimation  of  the  prob 
able  effects  of  his  disclosures  upon  the  fortunes  of  Colum 
bus  the  latter  as  publicly  replied :  "  I,  too,  am  going  to 
Castile,  to  testify  to  the  King  and  Queen,  our  sovereigns, 
against  the  lies  which  have  been  told  them  by  those  who 
have  gone  from  here  ";  and  he  began  to  make  preparations 
for  leaving  Hispaniola  for  an  indefinite  time.  On  this 
occasion,  at  least,  he  would  trust  neither  to  friendly  influ 
ences  nor  the  recollection  of  his  own  great  services  to 


INVESTIGATION  AND    VINDICATION.  233 

advocate  his  cause  before  their  Majesties.  Perhaps  he  felt 
that  the  royal  memory  was  as  short  as  the  royal  treasury, 
and  there  was  a  sensitive  connection  between  the  two. 

Premising  the  retirement  of  Aguado  from  the  colony, 
there  was  no  reason,  other  than  the  enforced  suspension  of 
his  own  projects,  why  Columbus  should  not  go  to  Spain  at 
this  season.  Don  Bartholomew  could  be  trusted  to  keep 
the  malcontents  of  the  colony  in  order,  and  to  carry  out  the 
work  of  "pacification"  and  tribute-gathering  among  the 
natives.  The  Admiral  had  no  apprehension  of  any  suc 
cessful  rising  among  the  latter,  although  there  would  prob 
ably  be  outbreaks  here  and  there  to  be  dealt  with  in  the 
customary  vigorous  manner.  He  had  caused  three  more 
forts  to  be  built  at  convenient  strategic  points  through  the 
disaffected  districts,  making,  with  St.  Thomas  and  Concep 
tion,  five  garrisoned  posts  in  all.  In  command  of  these  he 
had  placed  soldiers  of  his  confidence,  with  enough  men  to 
hold  them  against  any  native  attack;  so  he  felt  satisfied  with 
the  military  situation.  The  difficult  problem  of  the  reve 
nue  remained  to  be  dealt  with,  but  even  that  was  somewhat 
simplified  by  recent  developments.  The  king  of  the  Vega 
Real,  Guarionex,  and  some  of  his  colleagues  among  the 
lesser  caciques,  wearied  with  the  continuous  hardship  of 
the  tribute,  thought  to  relieve  themselves  of  the  burden  of 
gathering  the  gold  by  informing  the  Spaniards  where  it  could 
be  found  in  such  abundance  that  they  would  be  willing  to 
release  the  natives  from  the  toilsome  obligation  of  collect 
ing  it  grain  by  grain.  Whether  this  was  a  disclosure  of 
some  long-guarded  tribal  secret,  or  only  the  repetition  of  a 
report  brought  to  his  chief  by  some  Indian,  anxious  to  be 
spared  the  labor  of  hunting  for  his  share  of  the  tax,  does 
not  appear.  Either  case  would  be  in  consonance  with  what 
has  happened  numberless  times  since  in  many  parts  of  the 
western  world.  At  all  events,  the  caciques  of  the  Vega 
notified  the  Admiral  that  beyond  the  mountains  which  shut 
in  the  great  plain  on  the  south  was  another  plain  of  less 
extent,  watered  by  a  large  river  which  they  called  Hayna. 
In  the  ravines  and  gulches  at  the  headwaters  of  this  stream, 
and  in  the  gravels  of  its  affluents,  they  affirmed,  the  yellow 


234        THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

metal  was  to  be  found  in  quantities  surpassing  even  the 
greed  of  the  white  men  for  it.  Let  the  Guamiquina  send 
his  Christians  there  to  see  for  themselves.  In  the  old  days 
much  gold  had  been  taken  out  of  this  country,  which  the 
natives  knew  as  Bonao ;  its  treasures  might  now  be  used  to 
redeem  the  present  generation  from  the  hated  impost  of  the 
strangers.  The  information  was  too  circumstantial  to  be 
doubted,  and  the  Admiral  lost  no  time  in  sending  a  pros 
pecting  party  into  Bonao  under  command  of  a  certain 
Miguel  Diaz  and  that  Francisco  de  Garay  who,  twenty-five 
years  later,  nearly  saved  the  empire  of  Mexico  to  Monte- 
zuma.  This  force  crossed  the  forbidding  sierra,  entered 
the  golden  district,  met  with  a  pacific  reception  at  the 
hands  of  the  inhabitants,  and  found  gold  so  plentiful  that, 
they  reported,  one  man  could  gather  as  much  there  in  a  day 
as  the  quarterly  tribute  for  each  Indian  amounted  to. 
What  was  still  better,  they  brought  back  a  store  of  large 
nuggets  and  dust  sufficient  to  convince  the  most  sceptical  of 
the  value  of  the  new  mines.  They  had  found  ancient  pits 
and  workings,  such  as  had  not  been  seen  elsewhere  in  the 
island,  which  testified  to  the  importance  attached  to  the 
deposits  in  early  days.  Altogether,  their  report  was  con 
clusive  as  to  the  superior  extent  and  productiveness  of  the 
Bonao  fields  as  compared  with  even  the  vaunted  wealth  of 
Cibao.  To  Columbus  the  news  was  incalculably  welcome, 
coming  at  a  time  when  he  was  marshalling  every  available 
evidence  of  the  value  of  the  Indies  to  the  Crown.  In  the 
ancient  workings  which  his  men  had  found  he  fancied  he 
saw  the  mines  of  Ophir,  sought  by  Solomon  of  old.  His 
own  bold  conception  of  passing  to  Spain  from  the  south  of 
Cuba,  by  way  of  the  Red  Sea,  recurred  to  his  mind,  and  he 
thought  that  by  the  same  route  the  son  of  David  had  sent 
his  ships  to  fetch  from  Bonao  the  gold  for  the  Temple. 
Alive  to  the  importance  of  his  latest  discovery,  he  directed 
Don  Bartholomew  to  send  an  expedition  to  the  mines  and 
establish  there  a  fortress  to  be  called  St.  Christopher, —  as 
a  token  of  the  Admiral's  gratitude  for  the  assistance  thus 
opportunely  afforded.  Don  Bartholomew  was  also  charged 
to  have  the  mines  opened  and  worked  by  the  new  men 


INVESTIGATION  AND    VINDICATION.  235 

brought  out  by  Aguado,  and  to  secure  the  largest  output 
possible  during  the  Admiral's  absence  in  Spain.  The 
records  do  not  show  that  the  Indians  gained  anything  by 
their  revelation,  but  the  results  to  the  colonial  and  imperial 
exchequers  were  almost  immediate ;  and  this  was  the  object 
of  most  import  in  the  eyes  both  of  King  and  Viceroy. 

While  the  preparations  were  making  for  the  departure  of 
the  Admiral  and  Aguado,  a  novel  and  unexpected  disaster 
befell  the  colony.  For  the  first  time  since  the  Spaniards 
arrived  in  the  western  waters  they  were  subjected  to  the 
terrors  and  devastation  of  a  Caribbean  hurricane.  To  the 
enfeebled  and  disheartened  among  their  number,  it  might 
well  seem  that  the  Judgment  Day  was  at  hand;  while  even 
to  the  more  courageous  there  was  enough  of  horror  in  the 
diabolical  ferment  of  the  elements  to  quail  the  toughest 
spirit.  To  add  to  the  consternation  of  the  observers,  the 
waters  of  the  harbor  seemed  to  flee  before  the  outburst  of  the 
gale,  only  tc  return  with  incredible  violence  and  invade 
the  land  to  a  distance  never  before  thought  possible.  When 
the  fury  of  the  awful  tempest  was  past  and  the  cowed  settlers 
had  an  opportunity  to  examine  its  effects,  they  observed 
with  dismay  the  havoc  worked  on  their  lightly  built  town 
and  among  the  adjoining  forests.  What  was  of  most  moment 
to  the  Admiral  and  many  of  his  people  was  that  no  trace 
remained  of  the  vessels  riding  in  the  harbor,  save  the  shat 
tered  wrecks  of  two  or  three  hulls  cast  far  inland  by  the  wild 
rush  of  the  tidal  wave.  Six  of  the  ships  had  entirely  dis 
appeared, —  overwhelmed,  so  some  spectators  said,  by  the 
first  fierce  shock  of  wind  and  sea.  The  damage  might  have 
proved  wellnigh  irreparable  but  for  the  shipwrights  and 
materials  which  had  been  sent  out  on  Aguado 's  squadron, 
in  answer  to  the  former  requisitions  of  the  Admiral.  With 
the  aid  of  .these,  and  the  efforts  of  the  seamen  who  survived 
the  hurricane,  Columbus  began  the  construction  of  two  new 
caravels  of  small  size,  and  the  repair  of  the  only  one  of  his 
other  vessels  which  was  capable  of  reconstruction.  Strangely 
enough,  this  was  the  little  "  Nina,"  which  thus  again  escaped 
from  dangers  which  proved  fatal  to  so  many  of  her  consorts. 
There  is  something  so  uncanny,  judged  from  the  standpoint 


236        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

of  marine  superstition,  in  the  persistent  evasion  by  the 
stout  little  vessel  of  the  long  series  of  varied  perils  to  which 
she  had  been  exposed  in  the  three  last  eventful  years,  that 
one  is  tempted  to  consider  the  story  of  her  present  escape 
as  mythical.  But  there  is  no  ground  for  doubting  the  sin 
cerity  of  the  matter-of-fact  record  concerning  her,  and  we 
must  class  it  among  those  coincidences  which  form  the 
best  excuse  for  faith  in  Kismet.  The  effect  of  the  hurricane 
on  the  mind  of  Columbus  was  so  extraordinary  that  it  is 
strange  it  has  not  been  referred  to.  It  was  at  this  time,  so 
Las  Casas  distinctly  affirms,  that  he  assumed  a  garb  resem 
bling  that  of  a  Franciscan  friar,  "because  he  was  deeply 
vowed  to  St.  Francis."  The  historian  adds  that  he  saw  the 
Admiral  in  this  dress  in  Seville  at  the  time  of  his  arrival  from 
the  voyage  he  was  now  contemplating,  and  intimates  that 
the  motive  for  his  humility  was  connected  with  the  horrors 
of  the  dreadful  night  when  the  powers  of  sky  and  sea  com 
bined  to  aid  the  unfortunate  Haytians  in  sweeping  the 
strangers  from  the  earth.  Situated  as  Columbus  was,  with 
what  he  believed  to  be  the  Spanish  control  of  the  empires  of 
the  East  at  stake,  the  man  need  not  be  a  weakling  who  felt 
his  heart  sink  within  him  at  the  first  sight  of  a  West  Indian 
hurricane  bursting  upon  his  people  and  ships.  In  such  an 
extremity  it  was  second  nature  for  Columbus  to  make  a  vow, 
as  we  have  seen  him  do  when  the  "Nina  "  was  on  the  point 
of  foundering  on  his  return  from  the  Discovery;  and  it  was 
consonant  with  his  recent  experiences  that  this  latest  vow 
should  take  the  form  of  an  abandonment  of  the  outward 
pomps  and  vanities  of  official  rank.  Such,  at  least,  is  the 
conclusion  to  be  drawn  from  the  statement  of  Las  Casas, 
and  it  is  the  only  one  which  fits  the  case.  It  has  been 
often  asserted  that  the  adoption  of  the  friar's  dress  was  due 
to  hypocrisy,  ostentatious  self-abasement,  politic  pity-seek 
ing,  and  other  motives  similarly  acceptable  to  their  sugges- 
tors;  but  these  are  all  based  upon  conjectures.  The  one 
cause  assigned  by  companion  or  follower  is  that  quoted 
from  Las  Casas. 

There  was  no  lack  of  occupation  pending  the  building  of 
the  new  vessels.     Columbus  concerted  with  Don  Bartholo- 


INVESTIGATION  AND    VINDICATION.  237 

mew,  whom  he  appointed  his  deputy,  the  policy  to  be  pur 
sued  during  his  absence  in  Spain;  charging  his  brother 
especially  to  visit  the  southern  coast,  where  the  new  mines 
had  been  found,  and  thence  to  march  into  the  western  por 
tion  of  the  island,  which  had  not  as  yet  been  explored  by 
the  Spaniards.  With  regard  to  the  colonists  at  Isabella,  he 
enjoined  the  necessity  of  a  moderate  and  conciliatory  atti 
tude  and  the  avoidance  of  all  irritating  measures.  He 
appointed  as  governors  for  the  five  forts,  which  had  been 
established  in  the  disaffected  districts,  men  on  whose  fidel 
ity  he  could  rely,  and  carefully  instructed  them  as  to  their 
relations  with  the  natives.  As  Chief  Justice  of  the  whole 
island  he  named  Francisco  Roldan,  one  of  his  personal 
followers,  who  had  been  supervisor  of  laborers  at  Isabella 
and  had  acceptably  filled  other  minor  offices,  and  whom  he 
regarded  as  devotedly  attached  to  his  interests.  Don  Diego 
was  to  assist  Don  Bartholomew  in  the  administration,  and, 
in  the  event  of  the  latter' s  death  or  incapacity,  was  to  take 
his  place.  Great  stress  was  laid  upon  the  necessity  of  in 
creasing  the  revenue,  and  Don  Bartholomew  was  directed  to 
encourage  the  discovery  of  forests  of  brazil  and  other  valu 
able  dye-woods,  and  increase  the  shipment  of  these,  of  cot 
ton,  and  of  other  natural  products  as  well  as  of  gold.  The 
small  consignments  of  these  articles  which  had  already  been 
sent  to  Spain  had  led  to  a  demand  for  more,  which  promised 
to  prove  an  important  factor  in  the  revenue  returns. 

Many  weeks  elapsed  before  the  new  caravels  were  fin 
ished,  but  by  the  end  of  February,  1496,  one  was  reported 
ready  for  sea,  together  with  the  "Nina,"  the  repairs  on 
which  were  also  completed.  The  new  vessel  was  called  the 
"Santa  Cruz,"  and  was  given  to  Aguado;  the  Admiral  him 
self  preferred  the  more  familiar,  if  less  sightly  quarters  on 
the  "Nina." 

As  the  time  approached  for  the  sailing  of  the  caravels,  it 
became  necessary  to  select  the  men  who  were  to  return  to 
Spain  under  their  Majesties'  orders  to  Columbus.  All 
who  were  seriously  ill,  those  who  had  come  out  without 
salary  and  were  suffering  in  consequence,  and  those  who 
had  wives  and  children  dependent  upon  them  at  home  and 


238        THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

were  tired  of  staying  away  from  them  were  to  be  permitted 
to  leave  the  island.  When  a  count  was  made  of  these 
classes  it  was  found  that  nearly  three  hundred  of  the 
colonists  were  entitled  to  consideration.  All  could  not 
be  taken,  and  a  fierce  wrangle  at  once  sprang  up  among  the 
candidates  as  to  who  should  remain.  Some  appealed  to 
Aguado  and  some  to  the  Admiral,  and  a  very  pretty  conflict 
of  authority  was  the  result.  The  commissioner  claimed  the 
right  of  making  the  choice;  the  Viceroy  denied  it  and  per 
sisted  in  choosing  the  lucky  individuals  himself.  Aguado 
threatened,  stormed,  and  requested,  in  turn,  but  in  the  end 
had  to  yield,  and  the  emigrants  were  named  by  the  Admiral. 
In  all  225  men  were  granted  permission  to  return  and  were 
distributed  between  the  two  caravels.  This  reduced  the 
number  remaining  to  about  500  or  600,  but  it  cleared  the 
colony  of  most  of  the  useless  human  lumber  which  idle 
ness  and  disease  had  caused  to  accumulate  about  Isabella. 
Of  the  vicious,  turbulent,  and  refractory  there  was  no  lack 
among  those  who  were  left,  but  at  least  they  were  men  of 
action;  and,  if  they  envied  their  worthless  comrades  the 
chance  to  see  Spain,  they  were  consoled  by  the  prospect  that 
their  absence  would  assure  more  ample  rations  to  those  that 
were  left.  In  fact,  the  subject  of  provisions  was  a  serious 
one,  for  the  colony  could  ill  spare  the  supplies  required  by 
the  crowded  vessels  on  their  long  voyage.  The  stores  of 
European  foods  had  to  be  husbanded  with  the  utmost  care, 
for  the  country  about  Isabella  was  yielding  little  or  nothing 
of  native  produce.  In  this  emergency  the  Admiral  decided 
to  turn  to  account  the  large  plantations  of  cassava  and  maize 
which  he  had  observed  at  Guadalupe  on  the  westward  voyage 
two  years  before,  and  to  call  at  that  island  to  replenish  his 
stock.  This  involved  a  certain  amount  of  risk,  in  view  of 
the  large  number  of  passengers  to  be  fed  for  so  many  weeks; 
but  he  had  their  Majesties'  especial  injunctions  against  cut 
ting  down  the  portions  of  the  colonists,  and  did  not  venture 
to  draw  too  heavily  upon  the  magazines  at  Isabella  for  his 
voyage. 

On  Tuesday,  the  22nd  of  March,   the  two  caravels  got 
under  way  and  left  the  harbor  below  Isabella,  homeward 


INVESTIGATION  AND    VINDICATION.  239 

bound.  Their  departure  was  attended  neither  by  the  pomp 
of  Cadiz  nor  the  misgivings  and  regrets  of  the  return  of  the 
first  fleet  to  Spain.  Two  years  had  been  sufficient  effectually 
to  dissipate  from  the  minds  of  the  colonists  of  Isabella  all 
the  glamor  and  enthusiasm  about  the  Indies;  and,  though 
the  hope  of  gain  and  successful  adventure  beat  high  in  the 
hearts  of  most  of  those  who  watched  the  ships  drifting  into 
the  distance,  they  cherished  now  no  illusions  as  to  the  price 
of  such  success.  As  for  the  Admiral,  some  few  no  doubt 
regretted  his  departure,  but  most  rejoiced  thereat  as  remov 
ing  a  standing  check  upon  their  freedom  of  action.  Their 
experience  in  the  new  lands  he  had  discovered  had  not  thus 
far  been  such  as  to  excite  a  permanent  enthusiasm,  and  they 
were  not  of  the  sort  with  whom  loyalty  counts  for  much. 
So,  beyond  such  formal  ceremonies  as  his  rank  called  for, 
Columbus  left  the  capital  of  his  vast  dominions  without 
especial  pomp  or  circumstance.  His  little  squadron  was 
only  one  the  more  sailing  for  home,  and  he  himself  was  but 
another  officer  returning  to  lay  his  reports  before  the  King 
and  Queen.  The  departure  and  arrival  of  such  ships  and 
such  officers  was  beginning  to  be  an  old  story  to  the  men  of 
Isabella. 

Besides  the  returning  colonists,  the  caravels  carried  thirty 
chosen  Indians  whom  the  Admiral  was  taking  with  him  to 
exhibit  to  Ferdinand  and  Isabella.  Among  these,  if  we 
may  credit  some  authorities,  was  the  redoubtable  Caonabo; 
but  other  chroniclers  of  equal  weight  hold  that  he  was 
drowned  in  the  great  hurricane  which  destroyed  the  six 
vessels,  in  one  of  which  he  was  confined.  The  question  is 
not  material,  as  those  who  place  him  with  the  Admiral 
aboard  the  "Nina"  admit  that  he  died  before  the  flotilla 
reached  Spain.  His  prowess  as  a  warrior,  and  fame  as  a 
great  cacique,  interested  the  few  intelligent  men  who  con 
cerned  themselves  with  the  people  and  nature  of  the  new 
countries,  and  a  number  of  more  or  less  improbable  but 
attractive  legends  are  related  concerning  him.  As  the  proto 
type  of  all  the  aboriginal  heroes  of  later  romance  and  fable 
he  possesses  a  certain  interest,  but  the  fact  that  within 
thirty  years  after  his  death  the  manner  of  it  was  so  variously 


240        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

related  is  evidence  that  he  was  looked  upon  by  his  captors 
as  only  a  curio  of  a  superior  kind.  Of  more  real  interest 
was  the  fact  that  Don  Bartholomew  and  a  small  escort 
accompanied  the  Admiral  as  far  as  Puerto  de  Plata,  some 
twenty-five  miles  along  the  coast  to  the  eastward  of  Isa 
bella,  and  were  landed  there  in  order  to  examine  the 
vicinity,  with  a  view  to  removing  a  part  of  the  colony  to 
that  site  and  commanding  more  nearly  the  adjoining 
country  of  Cibao.  This  port  had  always  been  a  favorite 
with  Columbus,  and  his  recent  experiences  with  the  climate 
of  Isabella  had  doubtless  revived  his  earlier  project  con 
cerning  it.  Landing  his  brother  and  companions,  the 
Admiral  made  sail  again  and  stood  eastwards  along  the 
coast.  Contrary  winds  so  far  detained  the  vessels  that  they 
did  not  reach  the  end  of  the  island  until  the  22nd  of  March. 
From  Cape  Engano,  or,  as  we  call  it,  Cabron,  they  steered 
direct  for  Guadalupe;  but  it  was  not  until  the  Qth  of  April 
that  they  came  to  anchor  off  Maria  Galante.  The  Admiral 
was  learning  to  his  cost  that  it  is  one  thing  to  run  down  the 
Trades  and  another  to  beat  up  against  them.  The  winds 
to  which  he  owed  the  discovery  of  the  Indies  offered  little 
aid  for  his  return  to  Spain. 

On  Sunday,  the  loth  of  April,  the  caravels  sailed  over  to 
Guadalupe  and  anchored  in  a  convenient  haven.  When  the 
Spaniards  essayed  to  land  they  were  opposed  by  a  throng  of 
women  who  sallied  from  the  forest  armed  with  bows  and 
arrows.  "  Because  the  surf  ran  very  high  they  decided  not 
to  land,"  the  chronicle  reads;  but  the  height  of  the  breakers 
may  have  been  magnified  by  the  background  of  bellicose 
femininity,  for  two  of  the  Haytian  Indians  were  able  to 
swim  ashore  and  hold  a  parley  with  the  women.  The  latter 
were  assured  that  the  white  men  intended  no  harm ;  that  all 
they  wanted  was  food,  and  for  this  they  were  ready  to  pay; 
but  the  women  refused  to  be  persuaded  into  letting  the 
strangers  land,  and  told  the  interpreters  that  they  must  go 
to  another  part  of  the  coast,  where  the  Carib  men  were  at 
work  on  their  plantations.  There  was  nothing  to  do  but 
follow  this  counsel;  so  back  the  Haytians  swam  to  the  boats, 
and  these  in  turn  bore  the  report  to  the  Admiral.  The 


INVESTIGATION  AND    VINDICATION. 


24I 


caravels  weighed  anchor  and  cruised  alongshore  until  they 
reached  a  beach  which  swarmed  with  warriors,  who,  in  token 
of  defiance,  sent  showers  of  arrows  in  the  direction  of  the 
ships.  Here  were  the  fields  of  maize  and  mandioca  which 
the  Spaniards  coveted,  and  the  prospect  of  having  a  brush 
with  the  cannibals  added  materially  to  the  zest  of  foraging. 
The  Admiral  ordered  out  the  boats  and  sent  a  party  ashore, 
who  were  so  warmly  received  that  it  was  necessary  to  sup 
port  them  with  a  discharge  from  the  ships'  lombards.  The 
savages  could  not  withstand  the  thunders  of  these  novel 
weapons  and  the  havoc  wrought  by  their  missiles,  and  fled 
to  the  woods,  leaving  the  Spaniards  masters  of  the  field. 
An  examination  disclosed  a  considerable  store  of  food  in 
the  native  cabins  and  an  abundance  of  corn  and  mandioca 
in  the  plantations  near  by.  The  Admiral  accordingly 
detailed  a  number  of  his  own  men  and  the  Indians  aboard 
the  caravels  to  land  and  make  a  quantity  of  bread,  after  the 
native  fashion,  for  use  on  the  homeward  voyage.  While 
this  was  being  done,  he  sent  forty  men  inland  to  learn  some 
thing  of  the  country.  They  returned  in  a  day  or  two,  bring 
ing  ten  Carib  women  and  three  lads  as  captives.  One  of 
the  women,  of  commanding  stature  and  unusual  strength, 
who  had  been  taken  only  after  a  hand-to-hand  fight  in  which 
she  had  nearly  strangled  her  pursuer,  was  said  to  be  the 
chieftainess  of  the  tribe.  When  she  and  her  companions 
were  brought  before  the  Admiral,  he  questioned  them  ex 
haustively,  through  the  interpreter,  concerning  their  life  and 
customs.  Ever  since  he  had  reached  Hayti,  on  his  first 
voyage,  he  had  heard  of  an  island  inhabited  by  women 
warriors  who  could  be  none  other,  in  his  belief,  than  the 
Asiatic  Amazons  of  Mandeville  and  Marco  Polo.  His 
experience  at  Guadalupe  both  on  the  outward  voyage  and 
this  later  one  tended  to  confirm  the  theory,  while  the  state 
ments  frankly  made  by  the  captives  in  answer  to  his  in 
quiries  left  little  doubt  in  his  mind  that  the  island  was 
under  the  dominion  of  the  legendary  heroines.  It  was  an 
additional  link  in  the  chain  of  evidence  proving,  to  his 
satisfaction,  that  he  had  reached  the  shores  of  Asia. 

By  the  20th  of  April  the  bread-makers  had  accumulated 

16 


242        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

a  store  of  that  provision,  thought  to  be  sufficient  to  last  until 
the  anchors  were  dropped  in  the  port  of  Cadiz.  The 
Admiral  therefore  made  sail  and  laid  his  course  for  the 
Canaries.  The  captives  taken  in  Guadalupe  had  all  been 
put  on  shore,  with  the  exception  of  the  woman  cacique  and 
her  little  daughter.  If  we  may  believe  the  gossip  of  the 
ships,  the  mother  was  first  touched  with  the  misfortunes  and 
then  enamoured  with  the  heroic  qualities  of  Caonabo,  and 
willingly  sacrificed  her  liberty  to  share  his  imprisonment. 
Her  fortitude  and  devotion  were  soon  put  to  the  test,  as 
were  those  of  all  on  board  the  caravels,  whether  captors  or 
prisoners.  In  his  desire  to  keep  as  near  as  possible  the 
latitude  of  the  Canary  Islands,  the  Admiral  maintained  a 
course  which  was  almost  directly  in  the  face  of  the  north 
east  Trades.  As  often  as  he  was  blown  off  this,  he  would 
slowly  and  laboriously  return,  only  to  be  driven  away  again. 
Week  after  week  passed  in  this  tedious  blind  beating  about 
on  the  face  of  an  unfamiliar  ocean,  until  sickness  broke  out 
on  the  overcrowded  vessels  and  white  men  and  Indians  alike 
began  to  droop  and  die.  To  this  was  added  the  distress 
caused  by  scanty  rations  of  unwholesome  food,  followed  all 
too  soon  by  stark  famine.  "  They  suffered  the  last  extremity 
of  hunger,"  Las  Casas  says,  quoting  from  the  journal  of 
Columbus,  "  so  that  all  expected  to  perish. "  The  biography 
attributed  to  the  Admiral's  son  Fernando  enlarges  upon 
this,  and  alleges  that  the  famished  sailors  and  colonists 
went  so  far  as  to  propose  eating  the  Indians  on  board,  but 
were  shamed  by  their  commander  into  bearing  their  suffer 
ings  with  patience.1  A  ray  of  hope  encouraged  them  when 
they  caught  sight  of  land  and  recognized  it  as  one  of  the 
Azores,  but  this  gave  way  to  a  deeper  gloom  when  they  were 
driven  off  its  coast  by  contrary  gales  and  failed  to  reach  it 
again.  To  Columbus  this  experience  must  have  vividly 
recalled  the  perilous  days  and  sleepless  nights  of  his  return 
from  the  Discovery.  There  is  something  almost  impressive 

1  Those  critics  who  scoff  at  Columbus's  tales  of  cannibalism  among 
the  Caribs  accept  without  comment  this  story  of  the  same  villainous 
appetite  among  civilized  Europeans.  Perhaps  we  should  be  grateful 
that  they  do  not  lay  the  suggestion  at  his  door. 


INVESTIGATION  AND    VINDICATION.  243 

in  the  persistency  with  which  the  elements  assailed  this  one 
explorer  on  nearly  every  voyage  he  undertook.  Other  fleets 
far  less  skilfully  captained  crossed  and  recrossed  the  At 
lantic  without  let  or  hindrance;  but,  with  a  single  excep 
tion,  no  sooner  did  the  unveiler  of  its  mysteries  venture 
upon  its  bosom  than  he  was  exposed  to  every  form  of  dan 
ger  known  to  those  who  go  down  into  the  deep  in  ships. 
In  this  instance,  fifty-two  days  were  spent  in  making  the 
voyage  between  Guadalupe  and  Cape  St.  Vincent,  and  it 
was  not  until  the  nth  of  June,  1496,  that  the  weak  and 
exhausted  voyagers  came  to  anchor  in  the  bay  of  Cadiz. 
Many  of  their  shipmates  had  succumbed  to  disease  or 
privation,  and  among  these,  as  some  say,  was  Caonabo. 

The  arrival  of  Columbus  commanded  only  so  much 
interest  as  attached,  in  a  country  devoted  to  form,  to  the 
return  of  an  officer  of  his  high  rank  from  a  distant  station. 
Since  he  left  that  port,  in  command  of  the  colonizing 
expedition,  in  September,  '93,  three  fleets  had  arrived  from 
and  as  many  left  for  the  Indies.  In  the  minds  of  the  vulgar 
throng,  Hispaniola  and  Isabella  ranked  with  the  Canaries 
and  the  Guinea  Coast,  as  remote  and  pestilential  colonies 
where  profit  and  adventures  could  be  had  in  plenty,  did 
one  live  long  enough  to  obtain  either.  The  news  that  he 
had  made  new  discoveries  may  have  engaged  the  attention 
of  the  few,  but  to  the  populace  at  large  it  was  only  a  matter 
of  outlandish  names.  Their  conception  of  the  golden 
Indies  was  not  based  on  increased  geographical  knowledge, 
but  on  the  emaciated  frames,  empty  pockets,  and  sallow 
features  of  the  ex-colonists  as  they  disembarked  from  the 
two  caravels;  and  nothing  the  townspeople  heard  from  their 
returning  countrymen  tended  to  arouse  any  enthusiasm  for 
the  lands  beyond  the  sea,  or  the  man  who  had  discovered 
them.  They  had  built  high  hopes  upon  the  sailing  of  the 
Admiral  and  his  expedition  three  years  before,  but  nothing 
had  resulted  so  far  for  Cadiz  or  her  people.  Whether  the 
future  had  anything  in  store  was  more  than  doubtful.  This 
indifference  was  not  shared  by  the  crews  of  three  vessels 
which  were  anchored  in  the  harbor  when  the  Admiral  entered 
with  his  two  battered  caravels.  To  them  the  haggard  crowd 


244        THE  LAST    VOYAGES    OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

of  returning  adventurers  possessed  a  peculiar,  if  not  an 
inspiriting  interest;  for  the  three  ships  were  on  the  point 
of  sailing  for  the  colony  which  the  arriving  caravels  had 
left.  In  command  of  the  outward-bound  flotilla  was  that 
Pedro  Alonzo  Nino  who  had  served  as  pilot  of  the  "Santa 
Maria  "  on  the  first  voyage,  and  who  was  now  only  too  glad 
to  meet  his  old  commander  before  sailing  for  Hispaniola. 
Nino's  ships  were  laden  exclusively  with  provisions  for  the 
colony,  for  a  fleet  of  four  ships  which  had  been  despatched 
with  a  similar  cargo  in  January  had  been  wrecked  on  the 
coast,  and  the  colonists  were  supposed  to  be  by  this  time 
in  great  need.  Nino  was  also  the  bearer  of  the  latest  letters 
from  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  to  the  Admiral,  in  which  they 
replied  more  in  detail  to  the  despatches  brought  by  Torres 
than  they  had  been  able  to  do  by  Aguado.  These  letters 
were  now  read  by  Columbus,  and  Nino's  departure  delayed 
until  corresponding  instructions  could  be  written  to  Don 
Bartholomew.  The  only  matters  of  especial  interest  touched 
upon  in  the  Admiral's  hurried  communication  to  his  brother 
were  that  the  King  and  Queen  directed  that  all  Indians 
captured  in  arms  against  the  Spaniards,  or  otherwise  refrac 
tory,  should  be  sent  to  Spain  as  slaves,  and  that  it  was 
desirable  to  move  the  colony  from  Isabella  to  some  conven 
ient  point  on  the  southern  coast  of  Hispaniola.  In  these 
measures  we  find  the  sovereigns  readily  concurring  in  the 
suggestions  made  by  their  Viceroy  when  their  material  inter 
ests  were  concerned,  however  much  it  may  have  suited  their 
plans  to  curtail  his  authority  and  criticise  his  methods. 
The  conscientious  scruples  of  the  Queen  concerning  the 
natives  had  been  allayed  by  the  familiar  sophism  that  they 
were  in  revolt  against  her  authority.  The  change  in  the 
site  of  the  colony  was  due  partly  to  the  unhealthiness  of 
Isabella  and  partly  to  the  greater  convenience  of  a  port  on 
the  south  coast,  in  view  of  the  Admiral's  discoveries  in 
Cuba  and  Jamaica.  The  information  then  acquired  all 
pointed  to  the  development  in  the  near  future  of  discovery 
toward  the  south,  and  in  such  event  Isabella  would  be  prac 
tically  useless  as  a  base  of  operations. 

Columbus  finished  his  despatches  in  four  days  and  Pedro 


INVESTIGATION  AND    VINDICATION.  24$ 

Alonzo  set  sail  for  the  Indies  on  the  iyth  of  June.  The 
Admiral  at  once  left  Cadiz  for  Seville,  where  Fonseca  and 
the  officials  charged  with  the  administration  of  the  new 
Indian  House  were  established.  The  King  and  Queen  were 
in  the  north  of  Spain;  the  former  engaged  on  the  frontiers 
of  France  in  the  war  he  was  waging  against  that  kingdom, 
the  latter  in  the  maritime  province  of  Biscay,  superintend 
ing  the  preparations  for  her  daughter's  voyage  to  Flanders 
to  marry  the  Archduke  Philip.  Under  these  circumstances 
Columbus  forwarded  to  their  Majesties  the  announcement 
of  his  arrival  and  inquired  their  pleasure  as  to  his  move 
ments,  remaining  meantime  in  Seville  and  Cordova.  In 
those  cities  he  met  as  many  friends  as  enemies,  for  the 
bitterest  opposition  to  his  schemes  and  methods  existed 
among  the  followers  of  the  Court,  and  this  was  located  for 
the  time  being  at  Burgos  in  Old  Castile.  But  there  was  no 
lack  of  angry  criticism  and  scornful  incredulity  in  Seville 
and  its  vicinity;  for  so  many  ambitious  townspeople  had  set 
sail  with  him  in  '93  to  gather  the  riches  of  the  Indies,  and 
either  never  returned  or  returned  wrecked  in  health  and 
fortunes,  that  both  the  Indies  and  their  Viceroy  were  a 
laughing-stock  among  the  sober-minded.  This  Columbus 
could  have  borne,  for  it  was  only  a  long-familiar  experience 
revived;  but  he  could  not  support  with  patience  the  news 
he  heard  on  every  side,  among  his  seagoing  acquaintance, 
of  preparations  making  by  Vicente  Yanez  Pinzon  and  others 
to  fit  out  ships  and  go  on  private  cruises  to  the  Indies 
under  the  general  license  of  April,  1495.  That  he  con 
sidered  a  direct  and  flagrant  breach  of  the  Crown's  engage 
ments  with  himself,  and  the  fact  that  the  men  who  had 
obtained  the  issue  of  that  decree  and  proposed  to  turn  it  to 
their  own  advantage  were  his  former  followers  or  associates 
only  added  to  his  sense  of  cruel  injustice.  We  catch  a  few 
glimpses  of  him  during  these  weeks  of  waiting,  walking 
through  the  streets  of  Seville  in  his  monk-like  garb,  chat 
ting  about  his  Cuban  voyage  and  Haytian  skirmishes  with 
his  friend  the  Cura  de  los  Palacios,  showing  to  his  acquaint 
ance  the  strange  relics  and  rich  specimens  he  had  brought 
home.  But,  at  best,  little  remains  to  inform  us  as  to  the 


346        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

manner  of  his  reception,  or  his  own  sensations  on  returning 
from  his  long  and  eventful  absence.  Sometime  about  the 
end  of  July  he  received  the  answer  of  the  King  and  Queen 
to  his  letter  from  Cadiz.  It  was  dated  from  Almazan  in 
Castile,  on  the  i2th  of  the  month,  and  was  addressed  to 
"Don  Christopher  Columbus,  their  Majesties'  Admiral, 
Viceroy  and  Governor  of  the  Indies  in  the  Ocean  Sea."  In 
a  few  lines  of  rather  formal  condescension  the  Queen 
acknowledged  his  letters  and  report  and  expressed  gratifi 
cation  at  his  safe  arrival.  "  Since  you  say  you  will  soon  be 
here,"  she  concluded,  "let  your  coming  be  whenever  in 
your  judgment  it  will  not  cause  you  trouble,  for  in  what  is 
past  you  have  had  trouble  enough."  The  phrase,  in  the 
original,  is  genuinely  kind  and  was  no  doubt  grateful  to 
the  Admiral;  but  what  was  of  even  more  moment  was  the 
use  of  his  full  official  title.  Whatever  was  the  motive  for 
ignoring  his  rank  in  the  missives  sent  by  Aguado,  it  had 
disappeared,  and  their  Majesties  were  once  more  disposed 
to  meet  their  deputy  with  apparent  frankness  and  cordiality. 
Soon  after  receiving  this  letter  Columbus  set  out  for  Burgos, 
accompanied  by  a  considerable  retinue,  in  which  were 
Caonabo's  brother  and  other  Indians.  He  took  with  him 
all  the  more  notable  gifts  of  gold  and  other  products  which 
he  had  collected,  the  large  nuggets  and  coarse  gold  which 
had  been  found  by  the  Spaniards  or  delivered  to  them  by 
the  natives,  golden  masks,  stone  idols,  Carib  weapons, 
strange  birds,  and  whatever  else  he  thought  would  support, 
before  their  Majesties,  his  persistent  assertions  as  to  the 
wealth  of  the  Indies.  His  journey  lay  through  nearly  the 
whole  width  of  Spain,  and  wherever  he  went  he  displayed 
to  the  learned  and  curious  the  tawny  natives  from  the  new 
found  Indies,  bedecked  in  golden  ornaments  and  bearing 
their  fragile  weapons  of  wood  and  reed.  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella  were  not  at  Burgos  when  the  Admiral  arrived,  but 
reached  the  city  a  few  days  afterward.  Their  welcome  was 
apparently  sincere  and  free  from  all  taint  of  displeasure. 
They  listened  with  extreme  interest  to  his  account  of  all 
that  had  happened  in  Hispaniola  and  on  the  Cuban  voyage, 
plying  him  with  questions  concerning  their  people  and 


INVESTIGATION  AND    VINDICATION.  247 

products  and  his  own  theories  as  to  the  identity  of  the 
islands  with  those  mentioned  by  travellers  in  Asia.  His 
own  health  and  personal  welfare  were  also  inquired  for  with 
flattering  minuteness,  and  much  solicitude  expressed  at  his 
severe  and  repeated  sufferings.  Their  Majesties  showed 
particular  concern  about  the  mines  of  Hispaniola,  and  were 
well  pleased  with  the  specimens  of  their  output  which  the 
Admiral  presented.  They  listened  with  sympathy  to  his 
relation  of  the  trials  to  which  the  colony  at  Isabella  had 
been  subjected,  but  expressed  themselves  as  satisfied  with 
all  that  he  had  done.  On  a  later  occasion,  in  writing  to 
their  Majesties,  he  records  the  assurances  which  they  gave 
him  during  this  interview :  — 

"  Your  Highnesses  answered  me  with  that  courage  which  the 
whole  world  knows  you  possess,  and  told  me  that  I  should  not 
care  for  anything  of  that  kind,  because  it  was  your  intention  to 
prosecute  this  undertaking  and  support  it,  even  if  it  produced 
nothing  but  rocks  and  stones ;  that  you  did  not  attach  much  im 
portance  to  the  cost  involved,  for  in  other  affairs  of  less  moment 
you  were  spending  a  great  deal  more ;  and  that  you  considered 
everything  that  had  been  spent  thus  far  to  have  been  very  well 
employed,  and  that  what  should  be  spent  in  the  future  would  be 
equally  to  your  advantage,  as  you  believed  that  our  holy  faith 
would  be  extended  and  your  royal  dominions  enlarged.  You 
also  said  that  those  who  spoke  evil  of  this  enterprise  were  not 
friends  of  your  royal  estate/' 

In  short,  on  leaving  the  royal  presence,  Columbus  was 
entitled  to  feel  that  he  had  the  hearty  support  and  approval 
of  the  King  and  Queen,  and  that  the  intrigues  which  his 
influential  enemies  had  so  successfully  initiated  met  with 
no  encouragement  from  Ferdinand  and  Isabella.  Las 
Casas,  who  had  all  the  documentary  history  of  these  cabals 
in  his  hands  when  he  wrote,  sums  up  the  case  effectively 
when  he  says :  "  Of  the  reports  which  Juan  Aguado  brought 
and  laid  before  the  sovereigns,  very  little  was  heard;  and  so 
there  is  nothing  more  to  say,  or  to  waste  time  over,  about 
Juan  Aguado." 

One  significant  declaration  was  made  by  the  Admiral  to 
their  Majesties  in  this  audience  at  Burgos,  — that  whatever 


248        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

he  had  done  thus  far  in  their  service  was  little  in  compar 
ison  to  that  which  he  would  accomplish  on  his  next  voyage. 
He  had  given  them  grand  islands  heretofore,  he  told  them; 
now,  if  it  pleased  God,  he  would  give  them  a  great  land, 
"which  should  be,  perhaps,  another  continent."  This,  he 
assured  his  august  hearers,  would  prove  to  be  as  certain  as 
had  the  assertions  he  had  made  them,  before  starting  on 
his  first  voyage,  concerning  lands  in  the  West.  This  "great 
land,"  it  is  clear,  was  not  Asia  or  Cuba :  it  was  that  country 
to  the  south,  of  which  he  had  heard  in  Cuba  itself,  Jamaica, 
Hayti,  and  Guadalupe.  We  have  seen  him  on  the  outward 
voyage  in  '93  pondering  over  the  vague  hints  he  had  gath 
ered  at  the  time  of  the  Discovery  concerning  this  southern 
mystery,  and  planning  to  explore  it  later  on;  we  find  him 
three  years  later,  with  the  experiences  among  the  natives 
of  Southern  Cuba  and  Jamaica  fresh  in  his  mind,  telling  his 
royal  patrons  that,  if  they  will  but  permit  him,  he  will  add 
a  new  "  terra  firma  "  to  their  dominions,  in  addition  to  that 
easternmost  Asia  which,  as  he  believed,  he  had  already 
discovered  for  them. 


XIII. 
PLANNING   NEW   DISCOVERIES. 

NO  time  could  have  been  less  favorable  for  engaging 
the  attention  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  in  colonial 
affairs  than  was  the  summer  of  1496.  The  King  was  deeply 
immersed  in  the  operations  of  his  armies  in  Sicily  and  along 
the  frontiers  of  France,  with  all  the  complex  diplomatic 
relations  attendant  upon  these  two  wars ;  while  the  Queen 
was  equally  absorbed  in  the  elaborate  preparations  making 
to  celebrate  the  double  wedding  which  she  and  her  husband 
had  so  shrewdly  negotiated  with  the  Emperor  Maximilian 
of  Germany.  The  crown  prince,  Juan,  of  Spain  was  to 
marry  Margaret,  the  daughter  of  Maximilian,  and  the  latter's 
heir,  the  Archduke  Philip,  was  to  wed  the  Princess  Juana, 
the  second  daughter  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella.  As  became 
so  auspicious  and  mighty  an  alliance,  the  Crown  of  Spain 
proposed  to  challenge  the  admiration  of  Europe  with  the 
splendor  of  the  nuptials.  An  imposing  armada,  consisting 
of  no  less  than  120  vessels  manned  by  nearly  20,000  men, 
was  brought  together  at  Laredo  on  the  Biscayan  coast  to 
transport  the  Princess  Juana  to  Flanders  and  bring  back 
the  Princess  Margaret,  after  which  a  formidable  succession 
of  tourneys  and  pageants  was  to  be  celebrated  by  the  Court. 
A  marriage  was  also  being  arranged  between  Prince  Arthur, 
the  son  of  Henry  VII.  of  England,  and  the  princess  who, 
in  after  years,  attained  a  melancholy  fame  as  Katherine  of 
Aragon ;  and  this  also  involved  no  little  negotiation  and 
effort.  When  we  consider  the  restless  and  far-reaching 
nature  of  Ferdinand's  ambition,  and  the  ceremonious  and 

249 


250        THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE   ADMIRAL. 

scrupulous  interest  with  which  Isabella  supervised  every 
incident  affecting  the  welfare  of  her  children  and  the  dignity 
of  her  realm,  we  can  conceive  that  neither  sovereign  could 
find  much  leisure  to  give  to  their  wrangling  colonists  beyond 
the  Western  Ocean.  Moreover,  once  they  had  heard  their 
Admiral's  reports,  listened  to  his  projects  for  the  future, 
and  expressed  their  approval  of  one  and  sympathy  with  the 
other,  there  remained  the  awkward  question  of  ways  and 
means  to  be  considered.  The  programme  sketched  by 
Columbus,  to  which  their  Majesties  heartily  assented  in 
general  terms,  involved  the  outlay  of  ten  millions  of  mara- 
vedies  at  the  least.  The  treasuries  of  the  twin  kingdoms 
had  been  drained  dry  between  the  foreign  wars  and  domes 
tic  ostentation.  With  two  armies  in  the  field  and  what 
amounted  to  a  third  on  board  the  Flanders  armada,  with 
this  fleet  and  the  Sicilian  armament  afloat,  and  with  a  people 
burdened  with  the  last  straw  of  taxation  and  a  military  levy 
which  called  for  one  in  ten  of  the  entire  adult  male  popula 
tion,  not  even  the  prospect  of  adding  another  continent  to 
the  recently  discovered  Asia  could  induce  the  Crown  to  set 
aside  so  great  an  amount  just  at  that  season.  Don  Christo 
pher  Columbus,  Admiral  and  Viceroy,  must  wait,  brilliant 
and  seductive  as  were  his  new  proposals. 

That  his  presence  at  the  Court  had  immediately  and 
effectually  checked  the  progress  of  the  intrigues  against 
him  is  apparent  To  the  King  and  Queen  the  replies  he 
made  to  the  strictures  of  his  adversaries  were  conclusive. 
They  were  equally  gratified  with  the  evidences  he  presented 
of  successful  exploration  and  with  the  plausibility  of  his  argu 
ments  concerning  a  Terra  Firma  to  the  south  of  Hayti,  Cuba, 
and  Jamaica.  They  chided  him  gently  for  his  sternness 
with  the  Castilian  hidalgos,  but  accepted  his  explanations  as 
sufficient,  and  gave  repeated  indications  that,  whatever  want 
of  confidence  they  had  shown  in  the  wisdom  or  propriety 
of  some  of  his  actions  as  related  to  them  by  Fray  Boil  and 
his  party,  they  looked  upon  them  as  venial  errors  of  judg 
ment  when  compared  with  the  tangible  outcome  of  his 
labors.  He  was  assured  that  in  the  near  future  his  plans 
should  be  adopted  and  carried  out  to  their  fullest  extent, 


PLANNING  NEW  DISCOVERIES.  2$l 

and  that  no  amount  of  calumny  or  criticism  could  swerve 
their  Majesties  from  this  attitude.  In  fact,  the  same  in 
fluences  which  deterred  them  from  acting  promptly  in 
accordance  with  his  urgent  recommendations  had  deprived 
the  intrigue  against  Columbus  of  all  importance.  The  King 
and  Queen  had  now  neither  leisure  nor  inclination  to  sit  in 
judgment  on  the  merits  of  a  colonial  squabble,  and  it  rapidly 
shrank  to  the  proportions  of  a  dead  issue.  We  have  a  con 
cise  statement  from  the  Admiral's  own  pen  of  the  situation 
of  this  whole  business  as  it  existed  after  his  arrival  at  Court. 
Exhibiting  as  it  does  both  his  own  position  and  that  of 
his  opponents,  and  detailing  the  considerations  which  in 
fluenced  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  to  support  him  in  spite  of 
the  accusations  heaped  upon  him,  the  exposition  will  bear 
translating :  — 

"  In  Spain  they  vilified  and  derided  the  enterprise  which  was 
inaugurated  in  Hispaniola,  because  I  did  not  at  once  send  back 
the  ships  freighted  with  gold ;  not  considering  the  shortness  of 
the  time,  or  all  the  other  difficulties  of  which  I  have  spoken. 
For  this  reason,  —  either  on  account  of  my  sins,  or,  rather,  for 
my  salvation,  as  I  believe  it  shall  prove,  —  all  that  I  said  or 
asked  for  was  treated  with  detestation  and  obstructed ;  wherefore 
I  resolved  to  come  to  your  Majesties,  to  express  my  astonishment 
at  such  treatment  and  show  you  the  just  grounds  I  had  for  all 
that  was  done.  I  told  you  of  the  towns  I  had  seen,  in  which  or 
from  which  many  souls  might  be  saved  ;  I  brought  you  the  sub 
missions  of  the  tribes  of  Hispaniola,  under  which  they  agreed 
to  pay  tribute  and  acknowledged  you  as  their  sovereigns  and 
lords  ;  I  brought  also  a  large  quantity  of  gold,  to  show  that  there 
are  ores  and  very  large  nuggets,  and  copper  as  well ;  and  I 
brought  specimens  of  many  kinds  of  spices,  which  it  would  be 
tedious  to  enumerate,  and  told  you  of  the  great  abundance  of 
brazil-wood  and  infinite  other  products.  All  this  availed  noth 
ing  with  those  persons  who  were  bent  on  slandering  the  under 
taking  and  had  already  begun  to  do  so.  They  did  not  weigh 
the  service  done  Our  Lord  in  the  salvation  of  so  many  souls,  or 
say  that  this  was  a  glory  for  your  Highnesses,  of  a  higher  qual 
ity  than  that  which  any  prince  has  enjoyed  until  this  time,  since 
the  labor  and  sacrifice  were  both  for  temporal  and  spiritual  ends, 
and  it  is  inconceivable  that,  with  the  progress  of  time,  Spain 
should  not  receive  therefrom  great  advantages,  as  the  indica- 


252        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

tions  are  so  manifest  from  what  has  already  been  written  of 
these  expeditions  that  the  fulfilment  of  the  future  may  likewise 
be  looked  for.  Nor  did  they  care  to  mention  the  deeds  done 
by  the  great  princes  of  the  world  to  extend  their  fame ;  as  Solo 
mon,  for  example,  who  sent  from  Jerusalem  to  the  end  of  the 
Orient  to  examine  the  mountain  of  Ophir,  in  which  voyage  his 
ships  were  detained  for  three  years,  which  Ophir  your  Majesties 
now  possess  in  the  island  of  Hispaniola ; *  or  Alexander,  who 
sent  to  study  the  government  of  the  island  of  Taprobana,2  in 
India;  or  the  Emperor  Nero,  who  sent  to  investigate  the  sources 
of  the  Nile,  and  the  reason  why  they  rose  in  the  summer  when 
rains  are  few ;  or  the  other  many  great  actions  clone  by  princes ; 
or  that  to  princes  these  achievements  are  given  to  be  done. 
Nor  did  it  avail  for  me  to  reply  that  I  had  never  read  that  kings 
of  Castile  had  ever  won  any  lands  beyond  its  borders,  and  that 
this  land  out  here  is  that  other  world  to  secure  which  the 
Romans,  Alexander,  and  the  Greeks  labored  with  such  vast 
sacrifices.  Nor,  to  speak  of  the  present,  was  it  of  any  use  for 
me  to  refer  to  the  kings  of  Portugal,  who  have  had  the  courage 
to  support  the  Guinea  enterprise  and  the  discovery  of  that  coun 
try,  and  who  have  spent  gold  and  men  to  such  a  degree  that  if 
any  one  should  number  the  people  of  that  kingdom  he  would 
find  that  half  as  many  as  are  left  have  died  in  Guinea.  Yet 
these  kings  continued  until  the  undertaking  produced  for  them 
what  now  is  apparent,  although  they  began  with  it  a  long  while 
ago  and  it  is  only  very  lately  that  it  has  yielded  any  revenue. 
The  same  sovereigns  also  had  the  daring  to  invade  Africa  and 
engage  in  the  conquest  of  Ceuta,  Tangiers,  Arcilla,  and  Alcagar, 
and  to  wage  perpetual  war  against  the  Moors ;  all  this  at  great 
cost  and  with  the  single  end  of  doing  that  which  is  worthy  of  a 
king,  —  to  serve  God,  and  to  extend  their  kingdom. 

"  The  more  I  said,  the  more  was  the  effort  redoubled  to  expose 
this  enterprise  to  scorn  and  to  show  hatred  of  it,  no  attention 
being  paid  to  the  fact  that  all  the  rest  of  the  world  so  much 
admired  it,  and  that  throughout  Christendom  your  Majesties 
were  so  extolled  for  having  assumed  it  that  there  was  no  prince, 
great  or  petty,  who  did  not  desire  a  letter  about  it.  To  all  this 
your  Highnesses  answered  by  laughing  and  telling  me  not  to 
trouble  myself  about  anything,  for  you  attached  neither  weight 
nor  credence  to  those  who  spoke  evil  of  this  enterprise." 

1  The  italics  are  ours.     The  reference  to  the  "  End  of  the  Orient  " 
has  a  special  meaning  when  compared  with  the  change  made  in  the 
name  of  Cape  Alpha  and  Omega  on  the  return  voyage  from  Cuba. 

2  The  ancient  and  mediaeval  name  for  Sumatra. 


PLANNING  NEW  DISCOVERIES.  253 

From  the  time  of  his  arrival  in  Burgos,  in  August  or 
September  of  1496,  to  the  spring  of  1497  the  season  was 
one  of  comparative  inaction  for  Columbus,  and  was  devoted 
by  him  to  the  settlement  of  old  affairs  and  the  organization 
of  his  new  plans.  At  their  Majesties'  desire  he  drew  up  an 
elaborate  estimate  of  the  cost  of  executing  the  plans  he  had 
formed  for  a  new  voyage  of  discovery,  and  also  a  minute  or 
scheme  of  the  policy  he  proposed  to  follow  with  regard  to 
the  government  of  Hispaniola.  These  suggestions  were 
discussed  in  a  desultory  way  and  accepted  by  the  Crown, 
but  their  execution  was  deferred  until  a  more  convenient 
season.  The  Admiral  wished  to  despatch  as  soon  as  possi 
ble  two  more  caravels  to  Hispaniola,  which  should  take  out 
additional  supplies  of  provisions  and  also  a  full  equipment 
of  miners  and  appliances  for  developing  the  mines  of  the 
island  to  their  full  capacity.  With  a  fleet  of  six  more  ves 
sels  he  would  himself  sail  into  the  Southwest,  in  search  of 
the  countries  which  he  believed  lay  in  that  direction,  and, 
after  discovering  these,  or  proving  their  non-existence, 
would  guide  his  course  to  Hispaniola.  Other  proposals  of 
minor  importance  were  made,  the  whole  subject  being 
treated  in  a  broad  and  sagacious  spirit,  which  has  been  care 
fully  obscured  by  the  censors  of  its  author.  In  addition  to 
elaborating  these  designs,  the  Admiral  found  much  to  do  in 
liquidating  the  complicated  accounts  of  his  government  and 
overseeing  the  adjustment  of  the  contracts  existing  between 
the  Crown  and  those  colonists  who  had  returned,  or  the 
heirs  of  those  who  had  died.  From  the  records  of  these 
transactions  it  appears  that  he  had  advanced  from  his  per 
sonal  resources  considerable  sums  to  indigent  settlers,  and 
shown  a  solicitude  which  would  reflect  honor  on  any  other 
governor  to  protect  the  interests  of  the  heirs  of  such  of  his 
people  as  had  lost  their  lives.  "  Many  men,  both  natives  of 
Spain  and  foreigners,  have  died  in  the  Indies,"  he  represented 
to  their  Majesties,  "  and  I  ordered  that  their  wills  should  be 
taken  out  and  fulfilled,  in  virtue  of  the  powers  conferred  on 
me  by  your  Highnesses.  To  this  end  I  charged  Escobar  in 
Seville  and  Juan  de  Leon  in  Isabella  that  they  should  well 
and  faithfully  attend  to  all  this  matter,  both  in  paying  the 


254        THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE   ADMIRAL. 

debts  of  the  deceased  (in  case  their  heirs  failed  to  do  so) 
and  in  collecting  all  their  property  and  salary."  Both  in 
connection  with  these  financial  settlements  and  in  his 
schemes  for  the  future  the  Admiral  came  frequently  into 
open  conflict  with  Fonseca  and  his  lieutenant  Ximeno  de 
Bribiesca,  and  as  he  was  invariably  successful  in  carrying 
his  point,  on  appealing  to  the  King  or  Queen,  the  arrogant 
churchman  and  his  wily  proselyte  nursed  their  wrath  until 
an  occasion  for  revenge  should  arrive. 

Columbus  was  not  so  absorbed  in  magnificent  schemes  of 
future  discovery  and  development,  or  in  strengthening  the 
strained  foundations  of  his  standing  at  Court,  that  he  neg 
lected  his  personal  interests.  He  remonstrated  with  emphasis 
and  boldness  against  the  general  license  to  make  voyages  to 
the  Indies,  granted  by  the  Crown  in  April,  '95,  and  secured 
the  promise  of  its  revocation  as  far  as  it  infringed  his  sol 
emnly  guaranteed  rights.  He  also  pressed  upon  their 
Majesties  the  propriety,  in  view  of  the  recent  disputes  con 
cerning  the  extent  of  his  authority,  of  giving  him  a  specific 
and  definite  confirmation  of  his  rank  and  prerogatives,  and 
sanctioning  the  entail  of  these  upon  his  heirs  male.  To 
both  requests  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  gave  a  ready  acquies 
cence.  Indeed,  everything  that  the  Admiral  now  proposed 
was  apparently  accepted  by  them  with  the  same  unhesitating 
alacrity  as  they  showed  in  the  preparations  for  the  second 
voyage  in  '93.  They  could  not  undertake  to  meet  his 
wishes  at  once,  but  they  were  willing  to  commit  them 
selves  frankly  to  his  projects  and  instruct  their  officials  to 
make  provision  for  their  convenient  execution.  We  can 
find  no  trace,  during  these  and  the  succeeding  months,  of 
the  intrigue-  against  Columbus.  Whatever  might  be  the 
cause  of  this  sudden  accession  of  royal  favor, — whether 
recognition  of  services  rendered,  expectation  of  still  greater 
advantages  to  be  derived  from  their  connection  with  him, 
compensation  for  their  hasty  condemnation  of  him  in  his 
absence,  or  otherwise,  —  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  lent  them 
selves  to  all  of  the  Admiral's  proposals  with  a  facility  which 
baffles  comprehension,  if  we  accept  the  theory  that  he  was 
a  reckless  adventurer,  insatiate  speculator,  and  visionary 


PLANNING  NEW  DISCOVERIES. 


255 


romancer.  There  must  have  been  about  this  man  more 
of  what  we  moderns  term  "  personal  magnetism,"  and  the 
weighty  influence  born  of  successful  achievement,  than  his 
critics  have  cared  to  admit. 

Not  even  the  untoward  incident  of  Pedro  Alonzo  Nino's 
stupendous  blunder  was  sufficient  to  shake  the  regenerated 
confidence  of  the  King  and  Queen.  That  worthy  pilot  had 
safely  navigated  his  little  fleet  across  the  seas  to  Isabella, 
and  there  delivered  his  cargo  and  despatches  to  Don  Bar 
tholomew  some  time  in  August,  '96.  The  latter,  having  no 
other  cargo  at  hand,  and  anxious  to  send  back  Pedro  Alonzo 
without  delay,  loaded  the  vessels  with  300  Indian  slaves. 
The  fleet  made  a  good  passage  home,  arriving  in  Spain 
about  the  end  of  October.  Elated  with  his  successful  voy 
age  and  aware  of  the  value  of  slaves  in  the  Seville  market, 
Pedro  Alonzo  wrote  hurriedly  to  both  the  King  and  Queen 
and  the  Admiral,  claiming  the  customary  gratuity  for  a 
signal  service  and  announcing  that  he  brought  back  his 
ships  freighted  with  gold.  This  done,  he  hastened  to  his 
home  at  Moguer,  carrying  with  him  the  letters  sent  by  Don 
Bartholomew  to  the  Admiral.  The  receipt  of  such  gratify 
ing  news,  apparently  confirming  all  that  Columbus  had  said 
to  their  Majesties  of  the  surpassing  wealth  of  the  lately  dis 
covered  mines  of  Bonao,  —  or  Ophir,  as  he  thought  it  surely 
was,  —  was  doubly  grateful  on  account  of  the  solution  it 
afforded  to  the  financial  difficulties  surrounding  the  outfit 
ting  of  the  proposed  new  voyage.  Here  were  funds  in 
plenty  for  the  Admiral's  projects,  without  interfering  with 
the  domestic  requirements  of  the  Crown.  "  Since  Pilot 
Pedro  Alonzo  has  brought  so  much  gold,"  Ferdinand  is 
reported  to  have  said  to  the  Admiral,  "  you  can  take  from 
it  the  amounts  I  have  promised  you,  and  more  too."  There 
upon  the  King  notified  his  treasurer  not  to  distress  himself 
further  about  providing  the  sums  called  for  by  the  Admiral's 
estimates,  but  to  apply  his  whole  available  resources  to  the 
needs  of  the  French  campaign.  Weeks  passed  without  other 
tidings  from  Pedro,  and  the  King  and  Columbus  became 
anxious  for  confirmation  of  his  assertions.  At  length,  toward 
the  end  of  December,  the  tardy  pilot  reached  the  Court,  pre- 


256   THE  LAST  VOYAGES  OF  THE  AD  AURAL. 

sented  his  budget  of  letters,  and  explained  that  his  boast  of 
October  was  a  mere  figure  of  speech ;  that  his  gold  was  in 
the  shape  of  slaves,  — who  were  as  good  as  money,  after  all. 
The  blow  was  a  cruel  one  to  the  Admiral,  for  he  had  acted, 
since  receiving  the  first  report,  on  the  assumption  that  noth 
ing  now  remained  but  to  fit  out  his  fleet,  adjust  his  affairs 
with  the  King  and  Queen,  and  start  on  a  new  career  of 
discovery.  It  was  all  the  more  bitter  because  of  the  im 
mense  advantage  it  gave  his  adversaries.  Neglected  by 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  they  had  been  compelled  to  watch 
the  steady  advance  of  the  Admiral  in  the  royal  favor  until, 
with  the  news  that  a  great  remittance  of  gold  had  arrived  and 
the  colony  was  at  last  a  source  of  large  revenue,  their  chief 
argument  was  destroyed  and  they  seemed  to  be  finally  dis 
credited.  When  Pedro  Alonzo's  reckless  folly  was  made 
known,  all  their  allegations  gained  new  strength,  and  they 
found  themselves  armed  with  a  corroboration  of  their  charges 
which  surpassed  their  utmost  hopes.  Once  more  the  cabal 
raised  its  voice  and,  with  renewed  activity,  prosecuted  its 
intrigues. 

It  was  too  late.  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  had  espoused 
the  Admiral's  cause  and  were  bent  on  putting  his  brilliant 
programme  to  the  test.  However  unpopular  he  and  his  en 
terprise  were  with  the  Court  and  nation  at  large, — and,  we 
are  told,  they  were  esteemed  little  better  than  a  jest,  —  the 
sovereigns  held  to  their  faith  both  in  the  man  and  his  schemes. 
Notwithstanding  this  grateful  countenance,  the  winter  passed 
in  weary  waiting.  No  further  word  carne  from  the  Indies, 
and  the  absolute  want  of  funds  prevented  any  vessels  being 
sent  thither.  Don  Bartholomew  had  written  by  Pedro 
Alonzo  that  he  intended  to  march  at  once  to  the  new  mines, 
found  a  settlement  there,  and  push  the  mining  operations 
with  energy;  after  which  he  should  visit  the  brazil-wood 
forests  in  the  southwestern  part  of  the  island  and  endeavor 
to  win  over  the  caciques  of  that  hitherto  undisturbed  region. 
Beyond  this,  Columbus  knew  nothing,  and  his  solicitude  con 
cerning  the  welfare  of  the  colony  was  as  keen  as  was  his  im 
patience  to  put  his  plans  into  execution.  But  it  soon  became 
evident  that  their  Majesties  were  not  willfully  procrastinating. 


PLANNING  NEW  DISCOVERIES.  257 

Early  in  March,  '97,  the  fleet  arrived  from  Flanders  with 
the  Princess  Margaret,  and  on  April  3rd  her  marriage  with 
Prince  Juan  was  solemnized.  Within  three  weeks  there 
after  the  royal  secretaries  began  to  issue  decree  after  decree 
relating  to  the  affairs  of  the  Indies,  and  scarcely  a  week 
passed  during  the  succeeding  three  months  without  some 
provision  relating  to  the  Admiral's  interests  being  signed  by 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella.  By  the  end  of  June  all  of  the  most 
important  measures  which  had  been  under  discussion  since 
his  arrival  at  Court  in  August  were  formally  disposed  of. 
He  was  authorized  to  carry  out  his  proposal  —  made  under 
the  pressure  of  financial  straits  —  of  reducing  the  number 
of  colonists  to  330,  —  or  500,  in  certain  contingencies;  to 
purchase  in  Spain  the  supplies  and  materials  he  needed  at 
such  prices  as  he  should  deem  fair ;  to  liquidate  the  accounts 
which  were  due  in  the  Indies  with  the  proceeds  of  such  gold 
or  other  valuable  products  as  might  be  obtained  there ;  and 
to  dispense  with  the  payment  of  local  and  general  taxes  on 
his  vessels  and  their  cargoes.  His  recommendations  con 
cerning  the  administration  of  the  colony  were  approved  in 
a  letter  of  instructions  "  For  the  population  of  the  islands 
and  mainland  already  discovered  and  placed  under  our 
dominion,  and  of  those  which  yet  remain  to  be  discovered 
in  the  direction  of  the  Indies  which  are  in  the  Ocean  Sea." 
This  document  adopts  without  alteration  the  suggestions 
made  by  Columbus  for  reforming  the  government  of  the 
colony.  The  Indians  were  to  be  diligently  taught  by  the 
clergy  who  were  to  take  the  place  of  Fray  Boil's  runaways ; 
a  systematic  cultivation  of  the  soil  was  enjoined,  and  the 
tithe  of  the  crops  granted  the  Church  for  its  support ;  cattle 
and  horses  were  to  be  bred  on  farms  maintained  by  the 
Crown ;  the  colonists  were  to  draw  fixed  pay  and  rations, 
but  only  until  the  crops  should  be  sufficient  to  support  them  ; 
the  salaries  of  the  officials  and  employees  were  to  be  deter 
mined  by  the  Admiral  and  paid  on  his  authorization ;  the 
gold  obtained  from  the  new  mines  was  to  be  coined  in  the 
colony  into  moneys  corresponding  with  those  of  Spain  ;  and 
the  tribute  imposed  upon  the  Indians  was  to  be  collected 
under  the  supervision  of  an  officer  especially  appointed, 


258        THE   LAST   VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

who  was  to  have  five  per  cent  of  all  that  was  received.  We 
look  in  vain  for  a  reservation  or  exception  in  any  of  these 
decrees ;  they  are  as  frankly,  distinctly,  and  unreservedly 
issued  in  the  Admiral's  interest  as  though  no  one  had  ever 
questioned  the  wisdom  of  his  actions,  the  extent  of  his  au 
thority,  or  the  value  of  his  achievements.  Boil,  Margarite, 
and  Aguado  might  never  have  existed,  so  little  did  the  royal 
provisions  suggest  any  divergence  of  views  as  to  the  eminent 
prudence  of  the  Admiral's  conduct. 

As  if  to  emphasize  their  satisfaction  with  his  past  course 
and  their  adherence  to  his  plans  for  the  future,  the  King 
and  Queen  signed  on  the  same  day  three  elaborate  instru 
ments  ;  the  first,  confirming  to  Columbus  and  his  descend 
ants  the  emoluments  and  benefits  assured  to  him  in  the 
famous  agreement  of  discovery  signed  on  April  lyth,  1492, 
before  the  walls  of  Granada ;  the  second,  confirming  to  him 
and  his  heirs  the  rank  and  prerogatives  of  Admiral  of  the 
Ocean  Sea  and  Viceroy  and  Governor  of  the  Indies,  bestowed 
upon  him  on  April  3Oth,  1492  ;  and  the  third  granting  him 
authority  to  entail  these  rights  and  privileges  in  the  line 
of  his  male  successors.  Moreover,  their  Majesties,  in  ful 
filment  of  the  contract  of  '92,  caused  to  be  copied  from  the 
Castilian  archives  all  the  letters  patent,  decrees,  and  rescripts 
conferring  emoluments,  prerogatives,  and  distinctions  upon 
the  High  Admiral  of  Castile,  and  authorized  the  enjoyment 
of  like  privileges  by  Columbus  and  his  descendants  as  Admi 
rals  of  the  Indies.  Apart  from  the  dignities  of  this  elevated 
rank,  the  salaries  and  perquisites  were,  for  the  day,  enormous, 
and  by  this  measure  Columbus  was  assured  of  a  large  income 
independent  of  the  returns  from  the  lands  which  he  dis 
covered.  This  was  not  the  only  provision  made  for  his 
financial  welfare  at  this  time.  The  accountants  of  the  Crown 
were  directed  to  write  off,  or  cancel,  the  huge  sums  with 
which  Columbus  was  charged  on  the  royal  books  as  his  share, 
under  the  contract  cited,  of  the  cost  of  the  armaments  de 
spatched  and  operations  conducted  heretofore  in  the  Indies 
(excepting  of  the  voyage  of  Discovery,  which  had  been  already 
liquidated),  but  to  allow  him,  nevertheless,  his  one-eighth 
share  of  all  the  proceeds  received  from  the  colony.  This 


PLANNING  NEW  DISCOVERIES.  2 $9 

liberal  modification  was  also  made  applicable  to  the  expedi 
tion  about  to  be  fitted  out.  Still  another  generous  amend 
ment  in  the  terms  of  the  contract  exempted  the  Admiral 
from  contributing,  for  three  years,  his  one-eighth  of  all  ex 
penses,  while  allowing  him  to  draw  his  share  from  the  gross 
receipts  of  the  colony. 

It  has  been  claimed  that,  in  securing  these  extraordinary 
largesses,  Columbus  played  upon  the  too  confiding  and  sus 
ceptible  natures  of  his  royal  patrons,  and,  by  his  blandish 
ments,  extorted  from  them  concessions  which  shamed  his 
magnanimity  as  much  as  they  discredited  the  royal  sagacity. 
Those  who  hold  this  opinion  have  been  careless  students  of 
the  lives  of  Ferdinand  and  his  consort.  There  is  something 
grotesque  in  the  idea  of  Columbus  beguiling  their  Catholic 
Majesties  —  perhaps  the  two  shrewdest  princes  of  their 
time  —  into  signing  away  a  vast  revenue  by  the  recital  of 
his  dazzling  expectations.  Isabella,  it  is  true,  was  often 
generous  by  disposition,  and  Ferdinand  sometimes  so  from 
policy  ;  but  they  both  were  amply  endowed  with  the  homely 
virtue  of  thrift,  and  were  wont  to  drive  as  hard  a  bargain  as 
any  Jew  they  had  forced  across  their  borders.  In  releasing 
the  Admiral  from  his  obligations  and  bestowing  upon  him 
princely  gifts,  there  was  some  motive  other  than  maudlin 
sentimentality  or  blind  carelessness.  In  our  belief,  that 
motive  was  the  deliberate  conviction  that  it  was  to  the  in 
terest  of  Castile  and  Aragon  to  heap  honor,  rank,  and  profit 
upon  the  one  man  who  had  shown  himself  capable  of  con 
ceiving  and  executing  the  greatest  undertaking  of  historic 
times.  It  was  "  good  business,"  to  use  a  purely  commercial 
phrase,  to  reward  him  for  what  he  had  done  and  satisfy  him 
as  to  the  outcome  of  the  future.  They  believed  they  would 
be  the  gainers,  for  they  grasped  the  significance  of  the  dis 
coveries  he  had  already  made,  and  shared  his  confidence  in 
the  importance  of  those  to  follow.  Some  spark  of  enthu 
siasm  there  may  have  been  at  the  outset,  but  its  last  embers 
had  smouldered  beyond  revival  by  the  time  of  the  Aguado 
episode,  and  what  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  were  doing  in 
1497  was  the  effect  of  studied  calculation,  not  of  over-per 
suasion  or  benevolence.  The  King  was  not  a  philanthropist, 


260        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

or  the  Queen  an  impressionable  school-girl.  Nor  was 
Columbus  the  hypocritical  self-seeker  his  censors  would 
fain  have  us  believe.  They  pass  over  with  scanty  mention 
the  crowning  recompense  which  was  at  this  time  offered  to 
him,  and  refused,  although  it  was  thought  by  the  successor 
of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  to  be  almost  too  extravagant  a 
return  to  make  to  Cortez  and  Pizarro  for  the  empires  of 
the  Aztecs  and  the  Incas.  Their  Majesties  offered  to  him, 
in  addition  to  the  grants  we  have  recited,  a  tract  of  land 
200  miles  long  by  100  miles  wide,  to  be  selected  by  himself 
in  the  island  of  Hispaniola,  with  the  rank  and  title  of  duke 
or  marquis,  as  he  might  elect.  The  proposal  was  accom 
panied  by  no  conditions ;  its  acceptance  would  place  him 
and  his  successors  in  the  front  rank  of  the  proudest  nobility 
of  Christendom  at  a  time  when  such  a  distinction  possessed 
a  value  inconceivable  to  us ;  it  was  peculiarly  tempting  to 
Columbus,  whose  chief  ambition,  as  we  shall  see,  was  to  per 
petuate,  in  his  descendants,  the  fame  of  his  achievements  ; 
it  was  made  in  conjunction  with  other  boons  which  assured 
both  him  and  his  successors  a  great  fortune  to  sustain  the 
honor  worthily.  From  every  consideration,  the  opportunity 
for  gratifying  a  legitimate  ambition  would  seem  fairly  irresist 
ible.  Yet  Columbus  declined  the  offer  without  hesitation, 
even  with  bluntness.  We  do  not  remember  to  have  seen 
his  own  words  quoted  :  "  I  entreated  their  Majesties,"  he 
wrote  to  his  brother  Bartholomew,  "  that  they  would  not 
command  me  to  accept  it,  in  order  to  avoid  the  scandal  of 
being  calumniated,  and  so  that  the  rest  of  my  plans  should 
not  be  lost;  because,  however  little  my  lands  might  be 
colonized,  the  evil  tongues  would  always  say  that  I  settled 
my  own  and  neglected  theirs,  and  also  that  I  had  chosen 
the  best  for  myself.  From  this  would  arise  disputes  which 
would  redound  to  my  injury ;  therefore  I  said  that,  since 
their  Majesties  have  bestowed  upon  me  the  tenth  and  the 
eighth  of  the  products  of  all  the  Indies,  I  desire  no  more." 
The  same  pens  which  allege  that  his  one  purpose  was  "  to 
make  the  Indies  a  paying  investment  "  for  himself  charge 
Columbus  with  consistently  exaggerating  the  importance  of 
his  discoveries.  In  the  case  just  cited,  at  least,  he  refused 


PLANNING  NEW  DISCOVERIES.  261 

the  most  glittering  prize  that  could  be  offered  him,  rather 
than  jeopardize  his  hopes  in  the  remote  regions  he  was  so 
painfully  bringing  within  the  pale  of  the  known  world. 

The  liberality  of  the  sovereigns  did  not  end  with  their 
acceptance  of  the  Admiral's  policy  and  the  bestowal  of  re 
wards.  The  friction  which  had  existed  for  so  many  years 
between  him  and  Fonseca  was  in  no  small  degree  responsible 
for  the  delays  and  disputes  which  had  so  constantly  arisen. 
Conscious  of  this  want  of  harmony  and  of  its  dangerous 
consequences  to  the  colony,  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  now 
proposed  to  relieve  Fonseca  of  his  office  of  director  of  Indian 
affairs  and  put  in  his  place  Antonio  de  Torres,  whose  devo 
tion  to  the  Admiral  and  familiarity  with  the  requirements  of 
the  colonial  situation  made  his  appointment  doubly  accept 
able  to  the  latter.  Unfortunately,  Torres  had  his  whims ;  he 
demanded  such  conditions  of  rank  and  authority  that  he 
finally  wearied  his  royal  master  and  mistress,  and  they  with 
drew  his  appointment  and  reinstated  Fonseca.  We  find  a 
few  despatches,  dating  from  this  period,  running  in  the  names 
of  Columbus  and  Torres,  but  the  project  scarcely  became 
an  effective  reality ;  and  thus  what  was  probably  the  most 
important  to  Columbus  of  all  the  measures  sanctioned  by 
their  Majesties  was  nullified  by  the  vanity  of  his  associate. 
Had  Torres  succeeded  Fonseca,  the  following  ten  years  would 
have  borne  other  fruit  for  the  Admiral. 

One  of  the  matters  which  Columbus  had  most  at  heart 
was  the  settlement  of  Hispaniola  by  a  more  industrious  and 
reliable  class  of  persons  than  those  who  had  heretofore  gone 
thither.  To  this  end  he  solicited  from  their  Majesties  certain 
exemptions  and  allowances  in  favor  of  the  colonists,  which 
were  granted  as  soon  as  asked  for.  They  exhibit  in  every 
line  a  rational  and  temperate  plan  for  the  development  of 
the  new  possessions,  and  should  go  far  to  acquit  their  pro 
poser  from  the  charge  of  hasty  and  reckless  administration. 
One  of  the  decrees  which  relates  to  these  measures  provided 
for  the  return  of  all  the  colonists  in  the  Indies  who  should  so 
desire,  and  their  substitution  by  an  equal  number  from  the 
330  whose  engagement  has  been  alluded  to  ;  for  the  shipment 
of  a  sufficient  equipment  of  mining  tools  and  implements  of 


262   THE  LAST  VOYAGES  OF  THE  AD  AURAL. 

husbandry ;  for  the  transporting  of  the  cattle  and  live  stock 
in  an  old  vessel  which  could  be  broken  up  on  reaching  His- 
paniola  and  used  in  the  construction  of  the  town  to  be  built 
near  the  new  mines  on  the  south  coast ;  for  grain  and  biscuits 
to  last  until  mills  could  be  erected ;  for  the  machinery  and 
stones  needed  in  the  latter;  for  a  physician,  apothecary, 
herbalist,  and,  oddly  enough,  "  some  musical  instruments  and 
players  for  the  diversion  of  the  people  who  are  to  be  there." 
A  special  clause  provided  for  the  settlement  in  Hispaniola 
of  a  number  of  priests  and  friars,  who  should  regularly  per 
form  the  offices  of  the  church  in  the  colony  and  endeavor 
to  convert  the  natives.  Another  decree  authorized  the  Ad 
miral  to  allot  lands  to  such  of  the  colonists  as  seemed  to  him 
worthy,  provided  that  the  settlers  should  cultivate  their 
holdings,  build  houses  and  mills,  and  reside  at  least  four 
years  on  their  allotments.  All  metals,  dye-woods,  spices, 
and  other  valuable  commodities  were  reserved  to  the 
Crown. 

We  have  been  thus  minute  in  referring  to  these  arrange 
ments  because  of  the  censures  unstintedly  heaped  upon 
Columbus  by  reason  of  his  alleged  suggestion  that  "  the 
prisons  disgorge  their  vermin  "  in  order  to  supply  him  with 
the  men  he  needed  to  man  his  ships  on  the  coming  voyage, 
and  to  keep  his  colony  up  to  the  established  number.  The 
decrees  we  have  quoted  prove  emphatically  that  he  had  no 
such  intention ;  his  programme  of  colonization  was  equal  in 
breadth  and  wisdom  to  any  which  followed  it  for  two  cen 
turies.  What  he  did  propose,  and  what  was  authorized,  was 
that,  in  addition  to  the  useful  and  salaried  colonists  already 
provided  for,  such  offenders  against  the  laws  as  "  deserved 
or  ought  to  be  exiled,  according  to  the  code  and  laws  of 
the  kingdoms,  to  some  island,  or  to  labor  and  work  in  the 
mines,"  should  go  "  to  work  in  the  island  of  Hispaniola  in 
such  things  as  the  Admiral  of  the  Indies  should  specify  and 
direct,  for  the  time  they  were  to  pass  in  the  other  island 
at  work  in  the  mines."  Upon  serving  one  or  two  years, 
according  to  the  gravity  of  their  offence,  and  obtaining  from 
the  Admiral  a  certificate  of  satisfactory  conduct,  they  were 
to  be  pardoned  the  remainder  of  their  sentences.  Otherwise 


PLANNING  NEW  DISCOVERIES.  263 

they  were  to  continue  to  perform  the  service  prescribed. 
In  doing  this,  the  Crown  obtained  a  supply  of  labor  which 
would  relieve  the  better  class  from  the  excessive  service  of 
which  such  bitter  complaints  had  been  made,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  would  not  be  called  upon  to  pay  more  than  the 
convicts  would  cost  elsewhere.  The  arrangement,  in  short, 
was  thought  to  be  beneficial  to  the  colony  and  a  great 
economy  to  the  Crown.  It  was  a  great  improvement  on 
some  of  the  methods  adopted,  centuries  later,  in  settling 
certain  of  the  North  American  colonies,  the  English  West 
Indies,  and  the  great  Australasian  islands ;  for  the  convicts 
were  subordinated  to  the  responsible  classes  and  were  prac 
tically  sentenced  to  hard  labor  in  the  service  of  the  com 
munity.1  The  common  assertion,  that  the  prisons  were 
emptied  by  Columbus  in  desperation  at  his  inability  to  get 
enough  men  so  deluded  or  so  ignorant  as  to  join  him  on  the 
new  venture,  is  easily  disproved  by  a  reference  to  the  dates 
of  the  several  decrees.  The  final  provisions  for  the  engage 
ment  of  the  salaried  settlers  were  made  on  June  i5th,  1497, 
and  the  decrees  concerning  the  convicts  issued  just  one  week 
later,  on  June  2 2nd.  In  seven  days,  during  which  Columbus 
did  not  stir  from  Court  and  the  decrees  could  not  have  been 
generally  published,  the  enlistment  of  the  decent  element  of 
society  could  scarcely  have  failed  so  hopelessly  as  to  force 
him  to  look  to  the  prisons  as  affording  the  only  solution  of 
his  schemes  of  colonization. 

The  Court  had  left  Burgos  and  gone  to  Medina  del  Campo 
some  time  in  May,  and  the  second  half  of  this  long  series  of 
decrees  was  dated  from  the  latter  city.  It  closed  with  the 
confirmation,  on  July  22nd,  of  the  appointment  of  Don  Bar 
tholomew  as  Adelantado,  which,  when  made  by  the  Admiral 
at  Isabella  three  years  before,  had  been  considered  by  their 
Majesties  as  an  excess  of  authority.  Its  legalization  now 
was  only  an  additional  evidence  of  their  desire  to  gratify  and 
reward  Columbus. 

Another  instance  of  their  Majesties'  recession  from  the 

1  Las  Casas's  testimony  is  emphatic :  "  I  knew  some  of  these  men  in 
Hispaniola,  and  even  an  occasional  one  who  had  had  his  ears  cropped, 
and  I  always  found  them  very  responsible  people." 


264        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF  THE  ADMIRAL. 

position  taken  at  the  season  of  their  displeasure  against 
the  Admiral  was  given  in  a  decree  rescinding  the  general 
license  granted  in  April,  '95,  to  make  voyages  to  the  Indies, 
"  in  so  far  as  that  is  prejudicial  to  the  Admiral."  That 
license  was  a  bold  infraction  of  the  solemn  guarantees  given 
by  the  Crown  to  Columbus.  We  believe  that  it  never  would 
have  been  issued  had  not  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  been  per 
suaded  by  Vincente  Yafiez  Pinzon  and  the  Admiral's  enemies 
that  he  had  probably  perished  on  the  Cuban  cruise.  It  is 
commonly  asserted  that  several  voyages  were  undertaken 
under  this  permission  in  the  year  elapsing  between  its  date 
and  the  return  of  Columbus  to  Spain,  and  an  effort  has  been 
made  to  connect  Vespucci  with  one  of  these.1  We  do  not 
find  any  evidence  supporting  either  of  these  assumptions, 
and  the  negative  testimony  is  strongly  against  them.  Under 
the  decree  of  '95,  any  navigator  undertaking  such  a  voyage 
was  bound  to  account  to  Columbus  for  the  latter's  one-eighth 
interest  in  all  the  traffic  with  the  Indies,  and  there  is  no  men 
tion  of  any  such  claim  by  the  Admiral,  even  when  recapitu 
lating  in  later  years  the  several  injustices  to  which  he  had  been 
subjected.  If  the  license  itself  was  a  gross  breach  of  faith,  the 
partial  revocation  of  it  proved  to  be  an  act  of  sheer  hypocrisy  ; 
for  no  sooner  did  Columbus  get  well  away  from  Spain  than 
several  projects  were  set  on  foot,  with  the  connivance,  if  not 
the  actual  assistance,  of  the  Crown,  to  infringe  his  rights  by 
making  independent  voyages  of  discovery.  Of  these  we 
shall  find  the  Admiral  complaining,  and  with  reason,  for 
following  so  soon  after  this  renewed  assurance  of  his  exclu 
sive  rights  of  navigation  ;  but,  in  soliciting  the  latter,  we  are 
inclined  to  think  he  was  protesting  against  an  abstract  injus 
tice  and  not  against  any  particular  act. 

If  he  were  bent  only  upon  his  own  aggrandizement  and 
justification,  he  certainly  had  no  cause  for  discontent  with 
the  result  of  his  stay  at  Court,  long  as  it  had  been,  when, 
toward  the  close  of  July,  he  took  his  leave  of  the  King  and 
Queen  and  started  for  Seville.  But,  tenacious  though  he 

1  This  was  written  before  Professor  Fiske's  "  Discovery  of  America  " 
reached  our  hands.  His  scholarly  advocacy  of  Varnhagen's  theory 
gives  a  new  importance  to  the  whole  question. 


PLANNING  NEW  DISCOVERIES.  26$ 

was  of  his  rights  and  fame,  these  were  subordinate  to  the 
realization  of  his  grand  schemes.  His  heart  was  in  his  life's 
work,  and  its  success  was  the  absorbing  consideration  in  his 
mind.  When,  therefore,  he  had  satisfactorily  adjusted  all 
the  matters  upon  which  he  desired  the  royal  concurrence  or 
authority,  his  thoughts  turned  with  impatient  energy  to  the 
instant  realization  of  his  plans.  A  year  had  passed  since 
Pedro  Alonzo  took  out  the  last  cargo  of  supplies  to  Isabella, 
and  the  Admiral  was  haunted  with  the  fear  that  disaster 
might  ensue  were  not  additional  succor  promptly  sent.  His 
eager  desire  to  fathom  the  secrets  of  the  South  had  only 
increased  as  time  had  passed,  but  his  first  duty  was  to  his 
colony  in  Hispaniola.  Consequently  he  urged  upon  Fon- 
seca  that  at  least  a  part  of  the  funds  whose  expenditure  had 
been  authorized  by  the  King  and  Queen  should  be  applied 
at  once  to  fitting  out  a  couple  of  caravels  to  be  despatched 
in  advance  of  his  own  departure.  He  even  went  so  far  as 
to  reengage  the  "  Nina  "  and  "  Santa  Cruz  "  for  the  voyage 
and  put  his  own  men  in  charge  of  them.  Fonseca  could 
not  find  the  necessary  money  for  the  purchase  of  the  sup 
plies,  and  the  weeks  slipped  by  with  nothing  done,  until 
the  captains  of  the  contracted  vessels,  Colin  and  Medel, 
made  other  engagements  and  sailed  off  with  the  Admiral's 
artillery  and  equipment.  Columbus  exhausted  every  argu 
ment  and  inducement  to  secure  the  granting  of  the  needful 
credits,  but  the  royal  exchequer  was  bankrupt,  and  the  most 
he  could  secure  were  promises  for  the  future.  At  last,  on 
the  pth  of  October,  an  order  was  issued  by  Queen  Isabella 
assigning  to  the  Admiral  and  Fonseca,  for  the  costs  of  the 
proposed  expedition,  three  million  maravedies,  —  less  than 
one-half  of  the  total  sum  needed.  This  was  to  be  derived 
from  the  sale  of  grain  to  some  Genoese  merchants,  and 
would  at  least  provide  for  the  despatch  of  the  needed  sup 
plies  to  Hispaniola.  Almost  immediately  thereafter  fresh 
causes  supervened  to  delay  still  farther  the  despatch  of  the 
vessels.  King  John  of  Portugal  died,  and  the  opportunity 
arose  for  fresh  matrimonial  negotiations  between  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella  and  his  successor.  At  about  the  same  time 
their  son  Juan,  the  heir  to  the  crowns  of  Aragon  and  Castile, 


266        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

also  died  suddenly,  and  the  whole  machinery  of  government 
was  thrown  for  a  time  into  confusion.  Additional  afflictions 
overtook  the  royal  family,  until  it  was  out  of  the  question  to 
intrude  upon  their  Majesties  with  questions  of  state,  and,  the 
affairs  of  the  Indies  being  left  wholly  to  Fonseca,  that  digni 
tary  consulted  his  own  ideas  in  complying  with  the  Admiral's 
reiterated  appeals  for  urgency.  The  ensuing  delay  was  well- 
nigh  intolerable  to  Columbus,  although  he  realized  the  finan 
cial  straits  of  the  royal  treasury  and  was  continually  brooding 
upon  the  best  means  of  enabling  the  new  possessions  to  come 
to  its  assistance.  He  had  to  stand  idle  while  the  Court  and 
maritime  circles  rang  with  the  departure  of  Vasco  da  Gama 
from  Lisbon,  to  reach  the  Indies  by  a  voyage  around  the 
recently  discovered  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  which,  it  was  claimed 
by  the  Portuguese,  would  enable  them  to  get  to  the  land  of 
spices  and  gold  without  violating  the  ocean  boundaries  fixed 
by  the  Pope.  There  were  also  rumors  from  England  of  the 
Venetian  navigator,  Cabot,  sailing  to  the  west  in  the  service 
of  King  Henry,  in  search  of  a  northern  way  to  the  common 
goal  of  Asia.  To  the  proud  spirit  of  Columbus  these  tidings 
were  as  gall  and  wormwood.  Now  that  he  had  shown  the 
way,  the  very  monarchs  who  had  rejected  his  proposals  ten 
years  before  were  rivalling  one  another  in  their  efforts  to 
secure  some  share  of  the  world  he  had  unveiled,  while  his 
own  sovereigns  let  the  golden  opportunity  escape  in  pro 
crastination  and  delay. 

In  these  dark  days  he  wrote  at  great  length  to  his  favorite 
brother  Bartholomew,  setting  forth  his  difficulties  and  trials 
as  well  as  his  hopes  and  aims.  The  letters  had  to  await  the 
sailing  of  the  vessels  he  was  so  anxious  to  send  out,  but  it 
was  seemingly  a  relief  to  his  anxious  mind  to  put  his  thoughts 
on  paper. 

"Our  Lord  knows,11  he  wrote  on  one  occasion,  "through  how 
much  distress  I  have  passed  to  know  how  you  are,  so  that  these 
troubles,  painful  as  they  are  in  my  relation  of  them,  were  far 
more  so  in  fact ;  so  much  so  that  they  have  led  me  to  weary  of 
life,  because  of  the  great  extremity  in  which  I  know  you  must 
have  been.  In  this,  though,  you  must  count  me  as  one  with 
yourself,  because  of  a  certainty,  although  I  have  been  here  dis- 


PLANNING  NEW  DISCOVERIES.  267 

tant  from  you,  my  spirit  has  been  and  is  out  yonder  with  your 
self,  thinking  of  nothing  else,  without  ceasing,  as  Our  Lord  is 
the  witness.  Nor  do  I  fear  that  you  or  your  own  heart  will 
doubt  this,  for,  besides  the  ties  of  blood  and  our  great  affection, 
the  nature  of  the  case  and  the  very  quality  of  the  toils  and 
perils  encountered  in  far-distant  regions  teach  and  constrain  the 
mind  and  sensibilities  to  suffer  more  under  whatever  trial  may 
be  imagined  as  occurring  there  than  would  be  the  case  were  you 
nearer.  All  this  would  be  very  profitable  if  this  suffering  were 
endured  in  a  case  which  should  redound  to  the  glory  of  Our 
Lord,  for  which  we  are  bound  to  labor  with  a  cheerful  spirit ; 
nor  is  it  fruitless  to  reflect  that  no  great  action  can  be  perfected 
without  affliction.  In  the  same  manner  it  is  comforting  to  bear 
in  mind  that  everything  which  is  laboriously  acquired  is  pos 
sessed  and  enjoyed  with  the  greater  delight.  And  much  more 
I  will  add  to  this  same  effect,  but  I  shall  refrain  from  writing  in 
greater  detail  concerning  it,  because  this  is  not  the  first  time  that 
you  have  endured,  or  that  I  have  seen,  such  trials." 

If  there  is  one  trait  in  the  character  of  Columbus  which  is 
beyond  the  attacks  even  of  hypercriticism,  it  is  his  unalloyed 
and  unvarying  affection  for  Don  Bartholomew  ;  and  when  we 
find  him  thus  addressing  his  brother,  in  the  unrestraint  of 
intimate  correspondence,  we  may  safely  assume  that  he  is 
not  posing  for  effect.  To  allege,  with  all  the  circumstances 
of  his  own  and  Bartholomew's  respective  situations  before 
us,  that  these  are  not  the  words  of  a  brave,  patient,  and 
manly  nature  is  openly  to  proclaim  one's  own  narrow- 
mindedness. 

It  was  not  until  the  end  of  the  year  that  he  was  able  to 
get  ready  the  two  caravels  which  he  wished  to  send  out  at 
once.  He  had  recovered  them  from  their  recreant  skippers, 
and  loaded  them  at  Seville  with  the  supplies  most  immedi 
ately  required  by  the  colony.  Apart  from  the  mere  question 
of  provisions,  he  was  desirous  of  pressing  with  the  utmost 
energy  the  development  of  the  mines,  for  by  this  means  he 
could  the  sooner  relieve  the  Spanish  treasury  of  the  burden 
of  colonial  expenditure  and  himself  from  the  repetition  of 
the  harassing  and  degrading  experiences  of  the  last  six 
months.  The  tools  and  rude  machinery  suggested  by  the 
Spanish  mining  experts  were  accordingly  placed  on  these 


268        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE   ADMIRAL. 

two  vessels,  and  a  dozen  skilled  miners  included  in  the  roll 
of  ninety  persons  of  various  callings  who  were  to  go  out  on 
this  advance  squadron.  But,  as  the  time  approached  for  its 
sailing,  a  new  embarrassment  arose  in  the  difficulty  of  secur 
ing  colonists,  even  on  the  advantageous  terms  offered  by  the 
Crown.  The  reputed  mortality  among  those  who  had  al 
ready  gone  out ;  the  interminable  delays  on  the  part  of 
Fonseca  and  his  brother  officials  in  paying  the  salaries  and 
allowances  of  the  men  in  service  in  the  Indies,  whereby  their 
families  in  Spain  were  often  the  sufferers ;  the  active  propa 
ganda  to  discredit  the  enterprise  carried  on  by  its  opponents, 
and  the  well-known  fact  of  the  extreme  scarcity  of  money, 
all  combined  with  the  heavy  demands  for  men  for  the  royal 
fleets  and  armies  at  home  to  make  the  task  of  securing  emi 
grants  a  tedious  one.  Columbus  exhausted  his  ingenuity 
and  resources  in  spurring  Fonseca  to  take  such  action  as 
would  remedy  at  least  so  much  of  the  trouble  as  had  its 
origin  in  financial  remissness.  He  could  not  even  secure  the 
payment  of  their  past  due  salaries  to  Carvajal  and  Coronel, 
two  of  his  most  devoted  and  experienced  lieutenants,  whom 
he  wished  to  send  back  to  the  Indies  on  the  two  first  ships, 
and  who  had  exerted  themselves  to  get  together  the  required 
number  of  colonists.  In  a  sharp  letter  which  he  wrote  to 
Fonseca  on  this  subject,  in  January,  '98,  we  get  a  clear  view 
of  some  of  the  embarrassments  under  which  he  was  laboring. 

"  At  the  time  of  my  leaving  the  Court,"  he  wrote,  "  the  King 
and  Queen,  our  sovereigns,  being  then  together,  I  told  them  that, 
since  it  was  not  practicable  to  provide  for  the  payment  of  cer 
tain  persons  of  rank  whom  I  had  brought  with  me,  and  since,  if 
they  were  not  assisted,  they  could  not  go  back  to  the  Indies,  it 
would  be  well  for  their  Majesties  to  see  whether  I  could  not 
use  for  their  payment  some  of  the  money  I  was  taking,  or  was 
going  to  take  out  to  Hispaniola  with  me,  to  pay  the  salaries  of 
those  who  were  already  there.  [This  I  said  because]  that  busi 
ness  was  so  discredited  that,  if  these  men  did  not  go,  no  one 
would,  and  I  trusted  in  God  that  I  should  find  gold  or  some 
other  article  of  value  by  means  of  which  I  could  refund  the 
money  thus  taken  and  given  to  them.  The  King  replied  that  I 
should  do  as  I  proposed,  considering  the  position  of  the  indi 
viduals,  so  that  they  might  do  what  they  had  promised." 


PLANNING  NEW  DISCOVERIES.  269 

In  virtue  of  this  assent  the  Admiral  now  called  upon 
Fonseca  to  fulfil  what  had  been  authorized  six  months  before, 
and  in  the  course  of  another  fortnight  the  Bishop  complied 
with  the  demand.  The  two  caravels  sailed  from  Seville  with 
a  full  complement  on  the  23d  of  January,  1498,  and  from 
Cadiz  on  the  6th  of  the  succeeding  month.  They  were 
under  the  command  of  Coronel  and  carried  as  pilots,  among 
others,  Juan  de  la  Umbria,  or  Ungria,  and  Francisco  Nino, 
both  of  whom  became  famous  in  later  years. 

By  this  conveyance  the  Admiral  sent  out  his  weighty 
budget  of  correspondence  to  Don  Bartholomew,  —  the  accu 
mulation  of  eighteen  months  of  busy  negotiation  and  con 
sultation.  He  informed  his  brother  of  all  that  had  occurred 
to  retard  the  sailing  of  the  new  expedition ;  explained  his 
intentions  as  to  the  southern  voyage ;  discussed  in  detail 
the  conduct  of  affairs  at  the  colony  under  the  regime  estab 
lished  by  the  late  decrees ;  and  gave  instructions  concerning 
the  distribution  of  work  among  the  emigrants  going  out 
with  Coronel.  In  particular,  Don  Bartholomew  was  to  ex 
pedite  the  development  of  the  mines  and  the  cutting  of 
dye-woods,  as  being  the  two  products  yielding  the  largest 
revenue  with  the  least  outlay.  He  was  to  seek  out  all  the 
colonists,  whether  newcomers  or  early  settlers,  who  were 
adepts  in  these  crafts,  and  assign  to  them,  in  convenient 
gangs,  the  laborers  now  being  sent  out ;  while  the  farm  and 
garden  hands  were  to  bring  the  land  around  the  settlements 
under  cultivation  as  rapidly  as  possible.  Contrary  to  the 
frequently  repeated  allegation,  Columbus  exempted  the 
natives  from  all  enforced  labor  either  in  the  mines  or 
otherwise.  They  were  to  pay  their  tribute,  as  before,  but 
beyond  this  were  to  be  their  own  masters.  Exception  was 
always  made  of  the  rebellious  or  hostile  Indians.  These 
were  to  be  dealt  with  as  enemies  and  sent  to  Spain  as  slaves, 
for  so  the  pious  fathers  to  whom  the  knotty  question  was 
referred  by  the  King  and  Queen  had  decided.  The  Admiral 
even  went  so  far  as  to  point  out  that  these  captives  might 
be  advantageously  disposed  of  in  the  Canary  and  Azores 
Islands,  and  in  doing  so  apparently  had  the  approval  of  his 
sovereigns ;  for  he  charged  his  brother  that  in  shipping  the 


270      THE  LAST    VOYAGES    OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

slaves,  as  in  the  case  of  all  other  exports,  express  pains  were 
to  be  taken  in  seeing  that  the  Crown  was  credited  with  its 
full  share.  Shocking  as  seems  the  proposal,  it  was  entirely 
consistent  with  a  sincere  interest  in  the  welfare  of  the  natives  ; 
and  a  few  weeks  afterwards  we  find  Columbus  writing  indig 
nantly  to  their  Majesties  that  "the  revenue  of  a  rich  diocese 
or  archbishopric,  and  I  even  venture  to  say  of  the  richest 
one  in  all  Spain,  would  be  well  spent  if  employed  in  preach 
ing  Our  Lord's  holy  name  in  these  unknown  regions ;  but, 
although  there  are  many  revenues,  there  is  not  a  single 
bishop  who,  though  they  have  all  heard  that  here  are  infinite 
races  of  people,  has  been  willing  to  send  out  learned  and 
able  persons,  friends  to  Christ,  who  shall  endeavor  to  con 
vert  these  people  into  Christians,  or  at  least  make  a  begin 
ning  of  the  work."  Coming  from  so  devout  a  son  of  the 
Church,  and  addressed  as  it  was  to  the  pious  Isabella,  this 
outburst  is  at  least  free  from  all  suspicion  of  insincerity. 
Columbus  saw  nothing  inhuman  in  enslaving  his  enemies, 
but  he  considered  it  a  wicked  injustice  that  they  should  be 
deprived  of  the  chance  of  salvation. 

After  the  sailing  of  the  caravels,  another  considerable 
delay  ensued  before  the  funds  required  for  equipping  the 
Admiral's  own  fleet  could  be  accumulated.  By  dint  of 
much  laborious  financiering  this  was  at  length  arranged,  and 
then  followed  a  prolonged  series  of  disputes,  quibbles,  and 
conflicts  of  authority  on  the  part  of  such  of  the  Crown 
officials  as  were  inimical  to  Columbus  and  his  enterprises. 
From  these  unseemly  and  unpatriotic  intrigues  Las  Casas, 
who  was  on  the  ground,  is  disposed  to  exonerate  Fonseca, 
laying  the  blame  rather  on  certain  ill-conditioned  subordi 
nates  whose  powers  of  obstruction  were  disproportionate  to 
their  rank.  The  Bishop  has  enough  to  answer  for,  and  is 
entitled  to  the  benefit  of  the  doubt.  The  culprit,  whoever 
he  was,  had  reason  to  congratulate  himself  on  his  success 
in  impeding  the  progress  of  the  Admiral's  plans  and  seri 
ously  jeopardizing  their  ultimate  success.  We  are  told  that, 
even  after  the  funds  were  provided  and  all  the  needful 
instructions  issued,  the  work  of  collecting  provisions  and 
materials  for  the  vessels  was  most  onerous  and  toilsome  to 


PLANNING  NEW  DISCOVERIES.  2/1 

the  Admiral,  involving  not  only  great  labors  and  grievous 
trials,  but  slights  and  contrarieties  as  great,  all  the  more 
difficult  to  bear  because  they  were  the  work  of  under 
strappers.  Bribiesca  seems  to  have  taken  an  especial  delight 
in  insulting  the  Admiral,  and  on  one  occasion  was  knocked 
down  for  his  pains.  The  punishment  was  undignified,  but 
natural  enough  under  its  circumstances.  The  offence  was 
not  merely  against  an  irritable  vanity.  Columbus  had  caused 
to  be  gradually  collected  at  Seville,  under  his  own  super 
vision,  the  emigrants  chosen  to  go  out  with  his  squadron. 
These,  to  the  number  of  over  two  hundred,  were  drawing 
rations  and  pay,  as  well  as  the  crews  of  the  six  vessels 
chartered  from  Juanoto  Berardi  for  the  voyage ;  and  such 
an  expense  was  a  severe  drain  upon  the  comparatively 
moderate  credit  at  his  disposal.  When,  to  this  sufficient 
motive  for  anxiety,  were  joined  his  impatience  to  get  back 
to  Hispaniola  and  his  weariness  at  the  long  delay  in  start 
ing  upon  his  southern  exploration,  there  is  little  cause  for 
surprise  that  his  patience  was  at  length  exhausted,  and  he 
determined  to  withdraw  from  the  further  prosecution  of  his 
projects,  at  least  for  a  season.  To  quote  his  own  words 
concerning  this  grave  resolution  :  — 

"  I  greatly  desired  to  take  my  leave  of  the  business,  if  that 
had  been  loyal  to  my  queen.  The  instigation  of  Our  Lord  and 
of  her  Majesty  caused  me  to  continue  with  it.  In  order  to 
relieve  her  somewhat  of  the  distress  into  which  Death  had 
plunged  her,  I  undertook  a  new  voyage  to  the  new  sky  and 
world  which  had  until  then  remained  hidden.  If  this,  as  well 
as  the  other  affairs  of  the  Indies,  is  not  regarded  with  favor  in 
Spain,  it  is  no  wonder;  it  is  enough  that  it  is  the  fruit  of  my 
labors.'' 

Columbus  had  been  in  Seville l  since  leaving  the  Court  at 
Medina  del  Campo,  making  such  excursions  from  that  city 
to  Cadiz,  Cordova,  and  elsewhere  as  his  interests  and  prepa 
rations  demanded.  He  had  chosen  his  six  ships,  as  was  his 

1  The  curious  may  care  to  know  that  he  occupied  a  suite  of  rooms 
in  that  quarter  of  the  city  known  as  Santa  Maria,  and  appears  to  have 
maintained  an  establishment  commensurate  with  his  lofty  rank. 


2/2        THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

invariable  custom,  from  among  the  vessels  of  the  smaller 
class,  on  account  of  their  greater  convenience  in  explora 
tion.  The  largest  was  of  one  hundred  tons  burthen,  four  of 
sixty  or  seventy  tons,  and  the  smallest  between  thirty  and 
forty.  They  were  to  take  out  six  months'  supplies  for  the 
colony,  in  addition  to  the  considerable  amount  required  for 
the  crews  and  emigrants  on  the  coming  voyage,  which  would 
be  a  long  one  by  reason  of  the  wide  detour  to  the  south  that 
was  proposed.  He  exercised  also  his  usual  care  in  select 
ing  his  pilots  and  principal  mariners,  striving  to  eliminate  as 
far  as  possible  all  fractious  or  turbulent  characters.  The 
command  of  the  vessels  was  given  to  men  whom  he  believed 
he  could  trust,  and  in  many  respects  this  fleet  was  better 
equipped,  both  as  to  personnel  and  material,  than  any 
which  had  preceded  it. 

While  these  arrangements  were  making,  Columbus  drew 
up  and  executed,  with  all  the  formalities  known  to  Spanish 
law,  the  deed  of  entail  by  which  he  provided  for  the 
inheritance  of  his  titles,  offices,  and  revenues  by  his  heirs 
male  in  perpetual  succession.  This  remarkable  document 
was  the  work  of  his  own  hand,  and  deserves  to  be  read  by 
every  one  interested  in  knowing  the  real  character  of  its 
author,  for  it  portrays  the  man  with  absolute  fidelity.  No 
other  writing  of  Columbus  so  frankly  depicts  the  intimate 
aspirations  of  his  life  and  so  vividly  reflects  the  influences 
upon  his  conduct  of  the  age  and  circumstances  in  which  he 
lived.  Opening  with  that  invocation  to  the  Trinity  with 
which  he  began  all  his  formal  writings,  the  Admiral  ascribes 
to  divine  suggestion  his  first  conception  "  of  being  able  to 
navigate  and  go  from  Spain  to  the  Indies,  passing  to  the 
west  across  the  Ocean  Sea."  After  reciting  the  rank  and 
authority  conferred  upon  him  by  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  in 
reward  for  his  discoveries,  the  cession  to  him  of  one-tenth 
"  of  all  that  should  be  found  in  or  received  from  the  said 
jurisdiction,"  and  the  one-eighth  "of  the  lands  and  all 
other  things,"  he  relates  the  finding  of  "  Terra  firma  [Cuba] 
and  many  islands,  among  which  is  Hispaniola,  which  the 
Indians  call  Hayti,  but  the  Monicongos  call  Cipango."  The 
results  of  his  two  voyages  "  will  be  gathered  more  in  detail 


PLANNING  NEW  DISCOVERIES.  273 

from  my  writings,  reports,  and  charts."  "And  because  we 
trust  that  before  a  great  while  a  sufficient  and  vast  revenue 
will,  under  God,  be  derived  from  the  said  islands  and  Terra 
Firma,"  he  deemed  it  prudent  to  provide  for  the  future  dis 
position  of  his  offices  and  prospective  estates,  "  inasmuch  as 
we  are  mortal."  His  early  departure  on  a  voyage  which 
was  to  be,  in  a  sense,  as  great  a  plunge  into  the  unknown  as 
his  first  one,  was  of  course  the  moving  cause  of  his  making 
this  entail  at  this  season  rather  than  another ;  but  the  pro 
found  conviction  that,  little  as  the  world  might  think  it,  the 
returns  from  his  discoveries  would  shortly  reach  such  colos 
sal  proportions  that  his  share  in  them  would  equal  a  king's 
income  also  suggested  the  wisdom  of  regulating  its  disposal. 
We  are  wont  to  call  him  visionary,  when  referring  to  these 
splendid  day-dreams,  but  we  must  bear  in  mind  that,  when 
he  executed  this  deed  before  the  Seville  notaries,  he  attached 
to  it  the  solemn  guarantees  of  the  King  and  Queen  of 
Spain,  executed  under  the  royal  seals,  that  he  and  his  heirs 
should  enjoy  forever  the  "  tenth  and  the  eighth  "  of  all  the 
results  of  whatever  kind  flowing  from  his  discoveries.  Bear 
ing  this  in  mind,  and  recalling  the  incalculable  gains  which 
accrued  to  the  Spanish  Crown  within  even  fifty  years  of  the 
landing  on  San  Salvador,  no  one  can  justly  consider  the 
projects  as  chimerical  or  his  expectations  as  unfounded. 

The  succession  was  to  be  in  the  direct  male  line,  through 
Don  Diego,  the  Admiral's  elder  son,  Don  Fernando,  his  sec 
ond  son,1  Don  Bartholomew,  his  elder  brother,  Don  Diego,  his 
younger  brother,  or  their  respective  sons.  Failing  the  direct 
line,  it  was  to  pass  to  the  nearest  male  relative ;  and  only  in 
the  event  of  the  absence  of  any  male  heir  in  the  collateral 
branches  of  the  Columbus  family,  "  either  here  or  in  any 
other  corner  of  the  world,"  was  it  to  descend  to  a  woman. 
Don  Diego,  the  Admiral's  son,  was  to  inherit  the  whole 
estate,  subject  to  the  following  provisos  :  One-fourth  of  the 
revenue  from  the  estate,  up  to  the  sum  of  1,000,000  mar- 
avedies,  was  to  be  paid  to  Don  Bartholomew  and  his  heirs 

1This  effectually  disposes  of  the  assertion  sometimes  made  that 
Columbus  neglected  his  second  son,  on  account  of  his  presumed 
illegitimacy. 

IS 


274        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

forever,  "  for  his  support  and  the  labors  he  has  had  and  will 
have  in  connection  with  this  entail."  Another  quarter,  not 
to  exceed  2,000,000  maravedies,  was  to  be  paid  to  Don 
Fernando  and  his  heirs.  Don  Diego,  the  Admiral's  brother, 
"  because  he  purposes  to  enter  the  Church,"  was  assigned 
no  specific  share,  but  was  to  be  allowed  by  the  others  "  all 
that  he  may  need  to  maintain  himself  becomingly,"  and  he 
was  to  receive  this  allowance  before  anything  went  to  the 
others,  —  presumably  because  of  his  clerical  leanings. 

Having  thus  provided  liberally  for  his  sons  and  brothers, 
the  Admiral  turns  to  more  general  endowments.  One-tenth 
of  the  whole  revenue  of  the  estate  was  to  be  devoted  to 
charity,  —  preferably  to  the  relief  of  necessitous  members 
of  the  Columbus  family  and  to  the  dowering  of  its  unmarried 
women.  At  a  convenient  season,  as  large  a  sum  as  was  nec 
essary  should  be  devoted  to  building  a  church  and  chapel  in 
some  desirable  situation  in  Hispaniola,  to  which  was  to  be 
attached  a  hospital,  "  the  best  arranged  which  it  is  possible 
to  have,  like  those  in  Spain  and  Italy."  This  church  was  to 
be  called  Santa  Maria  de  la  Concepcion,  and  was  to  have 
erected  within  it  in  the  most  public  place  a  marble  block 
upon  which  was  to  be  cut  the  following  solemn  engagement : 
That  Don  Diego,  or  whoever  should  be  heir,  is  to  labor  to 
support  in  Hispaniola  as  many  devout  teachers  of  religion 
as  the  income  of  the  estate  will  justify  ("  and  for  this  there 
ought  not  to  be  any  reluctance  to  expend  all  that  is  requi 
site  "),  who  are  to  "convert  to  our  holy  faith  all  these  races 
of  the  Indies  "  ;  and  as  the  income  increases  so  shall  the  num 
ber  of  teachers  increase,  until  "  all  the  people  shall  be  Chris 
tians."  As  an  additional  safeguard  against  neglect,  Don 
Diego  and  the  other  heirs  were  required  to  submit  this 
obligation  to  their  confessor  each  time  they  went  to  confes 
sion,  and  receive  his  specific  assurance  that  they  had  thus  far 
faithfully  complied  with  it. 

All  the  income  of  the  estate  was  to  be  sent  to  Genoa  and 
there  invested  in  shares  of  the  Bank  of  St.  George,  "  which 
now  yield  six  per  cent  and  are  very  safe  funds."  The  reason 
given  for  this  is  semi-comical,  — "  because  it  is  becoming 
that  a  person  of  substance  and  property  should  be  prepared 


PLANNING  NEW  DISCOVERIES.  275 

to  act  for  himself,  and  profit  by  his  revenue,  for  the  service 
of  God  or  for  the  advancement  of  his  reputation."  These 
deposits  were  to  be  allowed  to  accumulate  and  grow  until 
such  time  as  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  or  their  successors  on 
the  throne  of  Spain,  should  undertake  a  crusade  against  the 
Saracens  for  the  recovery  of  Jerusalem,  in  which  case  the 
Columbus  fund  was  to  be  placed  at  the  service  of  the  Crown 
to  aid  in  the  holy  work.  If  no  Spanish  sovereign  undertook 
the  crusade,  when  the  fund  attained  sufficient  proportions  the 
then  heir  was  to  equip  an  armament  himself  and  lead  it 
against  the  Moslem.  All  this  seems  fantastic  enough  now ; 
but,  as  we  have  said,  in  what  respect  was  it  impracticable,  if 
the  descendants  of  Columbus  had  received,  and  invested,  say 
for  half  a  century,  eighteen  per  cent  of  the  fruits  of  the  Span 
ish  discoveries  in  the  western  world  ?  When  Columbus  exe 
cuted  this  deed,  he  knew  that  they  would  be  entitled  to  this 
share  and  believed  they  would  receive  it.  His  long  voyages 
in  the  Levant  had  imbued  him  with  the  sentiment,  which 
was  still  so  strong  among  devout  Christians,  that  the  Holy 
Sepulchre  must  be  wrested  from  the  infidel ;  and  the  project 
was  a  favorite  subject  of  debate  in  the  years  following  the 
expulsion  of  the  Moors  from  Spain.  With  him  it  had  been 
a  long- cherished  ambition,  if  it  was  not  actually  an  influen 
tial  factor  in  his  original  plans.  That  he  was  under  a  vow 
of  long  standing  to  dedicate  to  it  the  wealth  to  be  derived 
from  his  discoveries  is  an  oft-repeated  fact. 

The  Admiral  charges  his  heirs  to  support  always  in  the 
city  of  Genoa  a  family  of  his  lineage,  so  that  they  may 
depend  upon  the  influence  of  that  city  in  their  favor,  should 
occasion  arise.  The  reason  he  gives  is,  "  that  from  Genoa 
I  came  and  in  it  I  was  born."  His  heirs  are  always  to  use 
their  authority  and  possessions  to  the  advantage  of  this 
"  noble  city,"  and  to  employ  them  in  her  defence  in  any 
war  which  may  arise  with  her  adversaries  other  than  Spain 
or  the  Pope.  They  are  also  "to  support  and  serve  their 
Majesties  of  Spain  well  and  truly,  even  to  the  sacrifice  of 
their  lives  and  fortunes,"  and,  in  the  event  of  any  quarrel 
arising  between  the  Pope  and  any  secular  power,  are  re 
quired  to  "  lay  their  rank  and  properties  at  the  feet  of  the 


276        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

Holy  Father  "  in  defence  of  the  Church.  It  is  evident  that 
the  Admiral's  belief  was  that,  in  the  course  of  time,  his  family 
would  attain  such  power,  by  reason  of  their  colossal  wealth, 
that  their  aid  would  be  important  even  to  the  states  of  Europe. 

Yet  there  is  nothing  boastful  in  the  declaration  of  these 
intentions.  He  writes  with  perfect  simplicity  and  naivete", 
as  of  a  future  logically  assured.  He  appeals  to  the  grandees 
and  councillors  of  Spain,  "  that  it  may  please  them  not  to 
permit  that  this,  my  ordinance  and  bequest,  may  be  without 
force  and  effect,  but  that  it  may  be  complied  with  as  estab 
lished  by  me ;  for  it  is  eminently  just  that  one  who  is  a  man 
of  title  and  who  has  served  the  King  and  Queen  "  should 
have  his  wishes  respected.  He  instructs  his  heirs  to  use 
the  coat-of-arms  granted  him  by  Ferdinand  and  Isabella 
and  to  employ  his  seal,  without  venturing  to  alter  either. 
And  he  directs  his  successors,  as  each  shall  enter  upon  his 
inheritance,  "  to  sign  with  my  signature,  which  I  am  now 
accustomed  to  use,  namely :  an  X  with  an  S  above  it,  and 
an  M  with  a  Roman  A  above  it,  and  above  that  an  S,  and 
then  a  Greek  Y  with  an  S  above  it,  with  its  strokes  and  dots 
as  I  now  make  it,  and  as  it  may  be  seen  in  my  signatures, 
of  which  many  will  be  found,  and  as  will  appear  from  this 
deed."  Each  heir  "shall  not  sign  except  The  Admiral, 
although  the  King  should  grant  him,  or  he  should  obtain, 
other  titles." 

At  the  close  of  the  document  Columbus  wrote  his  signa 
ture  in  the  manner  he  had  prescribed  for  his  successors  :  — 

•  S- 

S-  A-  S- 

X  M  Y 

THE    ADMIRAL.1 

1  No  satisfactory  interpretation  of  this  signature  has  been  proposed, 
chiefly,  we  believe,  because  it  is  usually  read  from  top  to  bottom, 
whereas  Columbus  particularly  declares  that  the  cardinal  members  or 
the  cryptogram  are  X,  M,  and  Y.  It  is  in  keeping  with  the  singular 
strain  of  mysticism  which  ran  through  his  character  and  deepened  with 
years,  that  Columbus  should  have  imposed  upon  unborn  generations  the 
use  of  a  signature  whose  meaning  he  did  not  think  it  expedient  to 
disclose. 


PLANNING  NEW  DISCOVERIES.  2/7 

One  other  provision  the  Admiral  was  keenly  anxious  to 
have  made  by  the  Crown.  Of  all  the  charges  brought 
against  him  by  Boil  and  his  other  accusers,  none  had  seemed 
to  make  the  impression  upon  the  King  and  Queen  that  did 
the  allegation  of  cruelty  to  Spanish  subjects.  This  was  the 
one  complaint  on  which  the  King  had  dwelt,  in  his  conver 
sations  with  the  Admiral,  and  it  was  the  only  one  con 
cerning  which  he  had  thought  it  necessary  to  utter  a  word 
of  caution.  Now  that  Columbus  was  about  to  leave  Spain 
for  a  protracted  absence,  he  feared  lest  his  adversaries 
might  revive  the  old  falsehoods  and  distort  into  intemperate 
harshness  every  necessary  chastisement  inflicted  by  him 
upon  a  delinquent  colonist.  He  foresaw  that  his  inde 
pendence  of  action  in  the  meting  out  of  justice  might  be 
curtailed  by  the  desire  to  avoid  a  renewal  of  the  slanders, 
and  realized  that  unless  the  colony  was  governed  by  a 
strong  hand  a  revival  of  disorder  was  inevitable.  In  this 
dilemma  he  urgently  requested  their  Majesties  to  appoint 
some  responsible  servant  of  the  Crown  to  accompany  him 
to  Hispaniola  in  the  capacity  of  chief  justice.  To  quote 
his  own  words,  "  I  repeatedly  entreated  your  Majesties  to 
send  out  at  my  cost  some  one  who  should  have  charge 
of  the  administration  of  justice."  For  whatever  reason, 
the  appeal  failed ;  and  the  Admiral  was  left  to  discipline 
his  people  as  best  he  might,  with  the  assurance  that  every 
punishment  he  inflicted  would  be  promptly  reported  to  the 
Crown  as  being  excessive  and  unmerited.  Well  might  he 
exclaim,  in  after  years,  that  "  therein  I  received  a  grievous 
wrong"  ! 


XIV. 
SEEKING  THE  GREAT  SOUTH  LAND. 

WHEN,  on  Wednesday,  the  30th  of  May,  1498,  Colum 
bus  set  sail  from  the  port  of  San  Lucar  de  Barra- 
meda,  near  Cadiz,  with  his  fleet  of  six  vessels,  it  was  with 
the  clearly  denned  purpose  of  adding  a  new  continent  to  the 
dominions  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  before  he  steered  for 
Hispaniola.  Although  in  this  determination  he  was  influ 
enced  by  considerations  both  of  policy  and  pride,  the  bases 
upon  which  he  founded  his  expectation  of  success  were 
none  the  less  the  outcome  of  patient  investigation  and  close 
reasoning.  His  pride  was  deeply  involved,  for  he  had  but 
narrowly  escaped  losing  altogether  the  opportunity  of  seek 
ing  this  new  land.  Nothing  but  his  timely  arrival  in  Spain, 
in  '96,  had  hindered  the  sailing  of  Vincente  Yanez  Pinzon 
and  the  other  audacious  navigators  who  were  fitting  out 
private  ventures  of  discovery  in  the  Indies,  under  the  gen 
eral  license  of  the  preceding  year.  That  some  of  these 
expeditions  would  have  forestalled  the  finding  of  the  west 
ern  continent  was  not  to  be  doubted,  for  ever  since  the 
return  from  the  Discovery  it  was  a  matter  of  argument  in 
maritime  circles  that  momentous  secrets  awaited  disclosure 
in  the  southwestern  Atlantic.  So  much  had  been  conjec 
tured  by  Columbus  on  the  first  voyage  outward,  even  before 
San  Salvador  was  sighted,  and  all  his  later  explorations  had 
only  strengthened  this  belief.  A  theory  so  inherently 
attractive  to  the  nautical  mind  was  sure  of  debate  and 
ventilation,  and  so  many  capable  mariners  had  been  engaged 
in  the  succeeding  voyages  to  and  among  the  Indian  islands 
278 


SEEKING    THE   GREAT  SOUTH  LAND.          279 

that  most  of  the  knowledge  obtained  by  the  Admiral  from 
the  natives  must  have  been  shared  by  all.  Therefore,  hav 
ing  frustrated  the  intentions  of  those  who  had  endeavored 
to  anticipate  his  plans  of  renewed  discovery,  Columbus 
assumed  the  obligation  of  himself  probing  the  mysteries  of 
the  southern  seas.  But  his  rivals  were  not  only  those  of  his 
own  household,  for  he  shortly  found  himself  confronted  by 
an  entirely  new  complication,  which  threatened  alike  the 
integrity  of  his  sovereigns'  recently  annexed  domains  and 
his  own  preeminence  as  an  explorer.  The  brilliancy  of 
the  one  and  the  vastness  of  the  other  had  not  failed  to  excite 
emulation  as  well  as  envy  beyond  the  borders  of  Castile, 
and  both  England  and  Portugal  were  bent  on  deriving 
some  measure  of  benefit  from  the  far-reaching  achievements 
of  the  Spanish  Admiral. 

The  efforts  of  the  English  were  directly  inspired  by  their 
knowledge  of  Columbus's  success  both  in  finding  the  Indies 
and  in  colonizing  them.  This  we  are  told  in  so  many 
words  by  the  man  who  first  sailed  an  English  hull  in  the 
wake  of  the  Spanish  caravels  across  the  Western  Ocean. 
Sebastian  Cabot  affirms  that  it  was  the  receipt  of  news  of 
the  "divine"  exploits  of  Don  Christopher  Columbus,  "the 
Genoese,"  which  stirred  his  own  spirit  to  attempt  a  rival 
enterprise;  and  in  so  saying  he  doubtless  answers  for  his 
father  as  well,  for  the  two  acted  together.  At  all  events, 
in  1496  King  Henry  VII.  granted  to  the  Venetian,  John 
Cabot,  Sebastian's  father,  a  patent  to  carry  on  explorations 
under  the  English  flag  in  imitation  of  those  undertaken  by 
Columbus,  the  Genoese,  under  the  ensign  of  Castile.  Cer 
tain  merchants  of  Bristol  supplied  the  funds  and  wares 
requisite  for  the  first  voyage,  and  in  May  of  1497  John 
Cabot,  following  the  lead  given  by  Columbus,  sailed  west 
ward  from  that  seaport.  In  August  he  was  back  again  from 
his  "exploration."  In  the  words  of  a  not  unfriendly  pen, 
"  he  landed  nowhere  and  saw  no  inhabitants."  He  did  descry 
land  and  coasted  it  for  some  days.  Modern  cosmographers 
think  it  was  Labrador.  On  the  strength  of  this  record  we 
are  invited  to  consider  him  as  the  discoverer  of  the  western 
continent.  Cabot  himself,  again  following  his  great  master, 


280        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE   ADMIRAL. 

was  confident  it  was  Asia.  When  Columbus  heard  of  it, — 
as  he  did  at  Seville,  possibly  from  Cabot's  own  mouth,  for 
the  Venetian  was  there  soon  after  his  own  return, —  he 
only  grew  the  more  impatient  to  get  under  way.  Cabot's 
little  voyage  did  not  affect  him  directly.  It  was  not  in  the 
North  that  the  spices  grew. 

While  the  English  were  putting  his  theories  to  this  tardy 
test  Columbus  was  watching  an  enterprise  nearer  home 
which  promised  to  affect  his  plans  far  more  seriously. 
Barred  by  the  papal  line  of  demarcation  from  traversing  the 
Atlantic  Ocean  and  confined  by  the  same  invisible  boundary 
to  its  eastern  waters,  the  Portuguese  had  equipped  a  fleet 
and  placed  it  in  charge  of  Vasco  da  Gama,  with  instructions 
to  sail  southward  until  he  reached  that  Cape  of  Good  Hope 
to  which  their  explorations  had  extended  in  '88,  and,  round 
ing  that,  to  endeavor  to  reach  the  Indies  of  Columbus  by 
an  eastward  passage.  The  Portuguese  shared  with  the 
Spaniards  the  Admiral's  conviction  that  he  had  reached 
the  end  of  the  Orient,  but  they  appear  to  have  doubted 
whether  he  was  as,  near  the  treasures  of  Ceylon  and  Cathay 
as  he  imagined.  If,  while  Columbus  was  pushing  his  way 
westward  from  Hispaniola  towards  the  Ganges,  Da  Gama 
could,  so  to  speak,  take  the  Indies  in  the  rear  and  open  up 
an  easy  communication  with  them  by  way  of  Good  Hope,  his 
Holiness  of  Rome  and  their  Majesties  of  Spain  would  find 
their  schemes  for  monopolizing  the  products  of  the  Orient 
sadly  interfered  with.  Da  Gama  sailed  from  Lisbon  in 
June,  1497,  and  his  departure  was  an  additional  strain  upon 
the  patience  of  Columbus,  for  the  latter  gravely  doubted  the 
honesty  of  the  Portuguese  designs.  Ever  since  his  conver 
sation  with  the  late  King  John,  on  returning  from  the  Dis 
covery,  he  had  fancied  that  the  wily  rivals  of  Spain  had 
reasons  of  their  own  for  believing  that  some  great  land  lay 
to  the  west  of  Africa,  and,  Pope  or  no  Pope,  were  bent  on 
settling  the  question  under  the  mask  of  a  voyage  to  Southern 
Africa.  The  sailing  of  Da  Gama  revived  these  apprehen 
sions  and  increased  tenfold  the  Admiral's  anxiety  to  solve 
the  problem  for  himself. 

These  projects  of  the  maritime  rivals  of  Spain  promised 


SEEKING    THE    GREAT  SOUTH  LAND.         281 

to  traverse  the  whole  colonial  policy  of  Columbus.  Doubt 
less  the  knowledge  of  them  influenced  him  in  reconsidering 
his  refusal  to  return  to  the  Indies.  English,  Portuguese, 
and  Castilians  were  moving  in  an  intellectual  atmosphere 
of  seductive  mirage,  where  the  Golden  Chersonesus,  Ophir, 
and  Cipango;  the  Ganges  of  India,  and  the  Yellow  River 
of  Cathay;  the  capitals  of  Prester  John  and  the  Khan  of 
Tartary,  floated  as  goals  now  easy  of  attainment.  They 
might  question  the  correctness  of  this  or  that  identification 
made  by  Columbus,  but  they  all  shared  to  the  full  his  gor 
geous  anticipations  as  to  the  logical  issue  of  a  not  remote 
future;  and  the  other  nations  did  not  propose  that  Castile 
should  monopolize  those  oriental  wonderlands.  Hence 
Columbus  not  only  yearned  for  the  opportunity  to  bring 
safely  under  the  dominion  of  his  sovereigns  that  southern 
Terra  Firma  in  whose  existence  he  had  such  faith,  but  laid 
his  plans  for  a  far  broader  and  more  comprehensive  series 
of  explorations  than  any  to  which  he  had  as  yet  definitely 
committed  himself.  In  doing  this  he  argued  from  the 
known  to  the  probable  with  a  facility  born  of  twenty  years 
of  continuous  reflection  and  experiment.  No  other,  not 
even  the  shrewdest  and  most  observant  among  those  who 
had  shared  his  voyages  and  councils,  had  more  than  a  partial 
appreciation  of  the  problem  involved.  Although  the  very 
boys  of  Seville,  Palos,  and  Cadiz  knew  that  "the  Indies" 
lay  hidden  behind  the  western  horizon,  the  wisest  school 
man  of  Paris  and  Salamanca  knew  no  more.  With  the 
exception  of  the  comparatively  narrow  area  lying  between 
San  Salvador  and  Jamaica,  the  Caribbee  Islands  and  Cuba, 
the  farther  side  of  the  Ocean  Sea  was  yet  hidden  in  mystery 
as  old  as  the  world  and  as  dense  as  human  ignorance. 
Now  that  so  much  had  been  established,  many  were  willing 
to  try  and  learn  more;  and  Columbus  urged  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella  to  retain  the  control  of  such  knowledge  as  was  essen 
tial  to  their  monopoly  of  the  western  lands.  He  accordingly 
addressed  to  their  Majesties  a  memorial  in  which  he  pro 
posed,  after  completing  the  "  new  voyage  to  the  new  heavens 
and  world  "  upon  which  he  was  about  to  embark,  to  under 
take  "the  affair  of  the  Arctic  Pole  "  as  well.  It  was  only  a 


282        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

daring  dream,  if  you  please, —  this  first  design  of  seeking  a 
"northwest  passage  ";  but  its  projector  had  his  own  grounds 
for  supposing  it  feasible.  No  doubt  he  was  stimulated  to 
this  by  the  reports  of  Cabot's  voyage,  but  he  had  learned 
nothing  from  the  latter  which  he  had  not  known  before. 
The  one-eyed  sailor  of  Murcia,  and  Pedro  de  Velasco,  the 
Basque,  had  told  Columbus  years  before  of  a  dreary  coast 
spied  in  the  remote  Northwest,  after  a  stormy  voyage  from 
Ireland,  which  they  and  their  shipmates  conceived  to  be 
the  shores  of  Tartary.1  Cabot  could  tell  him  no  more  than 
that,  by  sailing  west  from  Bristol,  he  had  seen  the  same. 
Columbus  himself  had  shown  that  by  keeping  to  the  paral 
lel  of  the  Canary  Islands  the  easternmost  borders  of  the 
Indies  could  be  reached,  and  had  demonstrated  to  his  own 
satisfaction  that  by  pursuing  a  westerly  course  from  Cuba 
the  mouths  of  the  Ganges  would  be  accessible.  The  voyage 
he  now  was  planning  was  to  carry  him  to  the  south  of  that 
Asiatic  continent ;  for,  to  his  mind,  the  latter  could  not 
extend  as  far  as  the  Equator.  Since,  however,  Cabot  had 
reached  Tartary  in  his  northern  voyage,  there  might  easily 
be  a  means  of  skirting  its  Arctic  shores  and  reaching  the 
golden  lands  of  promise  by  a  northerly,  as  well  as  a  southerly, 
or  an  intermediate  route.  All  means  of  access  to  the  Indies 
by  the  west  were,  in  his  conception,  placed  under  the  undis 
puted  control  of  Spain  by  the  Bull  of  the  Holy  Father ;  con 
sequently,  in  proposing  to  essay  in  succession  these  several 
possible  methods  of  penetrating  to  the  famous  marts  of  the 
Orient,  he  was  planning  nothing  which  was  not  logical  and 
consistent.  As  he  had  led  the  way  in  this  world-hunting,  so 
it  behooved  him  not  to  allow  others  to  anticipate  his  wider 
schemes  of  annexation.  Our  own  conceit  of  the  man  and 
his  attainments  is  so  apt  to  be  bounded  by  the  narrow  limits 
of  San  Salvador  that  we  forget  the  breadth  of  his  schemes 
of  exploration  and  the  persistency  with  which  he  prosecuted 
them. 

In  starting  out  to  search  for  the  new  continent,  he  took 
no  one  into  his  entire  confidence  except  the  King  and  Queen. 

1  "  With  the  Admiral  of  the  Ocean  Sea,"  Note  E,  Appendix. 


SEEKING    THE    GREAT  SOUTH  LAND.         283 

Ostensibly,  he  was  bound  for  Hispaniola  by  a  new  route  ; 
to  divulge  the  fact  that  he  was  going  to  launch  out  boldly 
into  the  pathless  wastes  of  the  southern  seas  would  be  to 
revive  among  his  followers  the  dread  and  opposition  of  the 
first  voyage  to  the  west.  His  theory  was  that  the  land  would 
be  found  in  about  the  same  meridian  as  Hayti,  and  the 
voyage,  in  consequence,  would  not  have  to  be  greatly  pro 
tracted.  In  fact,  this  belief  amounted  to  assurance,  for  the 
lading  of  his  vessels  was  chiefly  composed  of  additional 
supplies  for  the  Hispaniola  settlers,  and  he  could  not  afford 
to  tarry  unduly  on  the  way.  His  health,  too,  was  precarious. 
The  experience  of  the  past  year  had  not  been  of  a  nature  to 
diminish  his  tendency  to  gout,  and  of  late  he  had  been  suf 
fering  keenly  from  an  attack  of  that  remorseless  enemy  which 
had  enfeebled  his  whole  system.  The  long  lapse  of  time 
since  he  had  received  news  from  his  Indian  government 
inspired  grave  misgivings  as  to  the  safety  of  the  colony,  and 
served  as  an  additional  incentive  for  him  to  hasten  his  return 
thither.  For  all  these  reasons  he  determined  to  make  what 
speed  he  could,  and  limit  himself  to  merely  establishing,  or 
disproving,  the  existence  of  the  "  great  land  "  in  which  he 
had  such  faith.  If  it  were  found,  its  exploration  in  detail 
could  be  systematically  conducted  at  leisure.  It  was  not  in 
his  power  personally  to  investigate  all  these  new  regions ; 
his  task  was  to  find  them. 

From  San  Lucar  the  Admiral  steered  for  Madeira,  avoid 
ing  all  near  approach  to  Cape  St.  Vincent  from  fear  of 
falling  in  with  French  cruisers,  as,  on  the  two  preceding 
voyages,  he  had  avoided  it  to  escape  the  Portuguese.  A 
favorable  run  of  seven  days  brought  him  to  that  island  of 
Porto  Santo  which  was  the  birthplace  of  his  wife  and  had 
been  so  important  a  factor  in  his  earliest  speculations  con 
cerning  a  voyage  to  the  west.  Landing  here,  he  found  the 
inhabitants  in  a  state  of  great  alarm  at  the  approach  of  his 
vessels,  which  they  had  taken  for  a  French  fleet.  On  learn 
ing  who  it  was,  they  exchanged  their  attitude  for  one  of 
welcome  and  willingly  furnished  the  supplies  he  desired. 
Doubtless  with  some  reference  to  his  former  visits  to  the 
island,  the  Admiral  sought  out  its  little  church  to  attend 


284        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

Mass,  after  which  he  returned  on  board  and  made  sail  for 
Madeira,  some  fifty  miles  distant.  Here  he  was  received 
with  open  arms  and  hearty  greetings  ;  for  he  was  well  known 
by  the  residents  on  account  of  his  long  sojourning  among 
them  in  past  years,  and  they  were  proud,  in  virtue  of  his 
later  achievements,  to  claim  him  as  one  of  themselves. 
Some  popular  demonstration  of  this  sentiment  was  made, 
in  the  way  of  the  fiestas  dear  to  the  Portuguese  and  Spanish 
heart,  and  these,  with  the  stocking  of  the  ships  with  water, 
wood,  and  fresh  provisions,  detained  them  for  six  days. 
This  brief  stay  in  Madeira  is  one  of  the  few  recorded  inci 
dents  which  link  that  portion  of  the  Admiral's  career  which 
is  known  to  us  directly  with  his  obscure  past.  Here  he  had 
stopped  when  voyaging  to  the  Guinea  coast  twenty  years 
before ;  here  he  had  eagerly  gathered  such  fragmentary 
indications  of  lands  beyond  the  awesome  Sea  of  Darkness 
as  storm-tossed  sailor-folk  or  observant  residents  could 
offer ;  and  here  he  had  received,  with  his  wife,  that  dowry 
of  rough  charts  and  notes  which  had  given  the  confirmation 
of  experience  to  the  speculations  of  the  schoolmen  with 
which  his  mind  was  already  so  deeply  imbued.  Surely  no 
wanderer  ever  returned  to  once  familiar  haunts  and  met 
again  his  old  companions  with  a  stranger  tale  to  relate  or  a 
more  marvellous  experience  to  unfold. 

As  if  to  emphasize  the  contact  with  the  past,  he  was  called 
upon  to  revive  for  a  moment  his  ancient  craft  as  privateer. 
Leaving  Madeira  on  the  i6th  of  June,  he  steered  for  the 
Canaries  and  reached  Gomera  on  the  ipth.  As  his  fleet 
approached  the  anchorage,  he  saw  three  vessels  already 
lying  there,  two  of  which  at  once  made  sail  and  stood  out 
to  sea.  Mindful  of  the  war  existing  between  Spain  and 
France,  and  recognizing,  probably  by  her  build,  one  of  the 
fugitives  as  belonging  to  the  latter  nation,  the  Admiral  sent 
some  of  his  own  ships  in  pursuit.  The  Frenchman  was  the 
better  sailer  and  made  good  his  escape,  but  the  caravel  in 
his  company  soon  put  about  and  came  to  meet  the  Spaniards. 
The  episode  was  explained  when  the  Spaniards  learned  that 
two  of  the  three  ships  belonged  to  their  own  countrymen 
and  had  been  captured  by  the  French  corsair,  who  had  just 


SEEKING    THE    GREAT  SOUTH  LAND.         285 

slipped  through  their  hands.  The  returning  vessel  had 
started  to  follow  him,  in  charge  of  a  prize  crew,  but  the 
Spanish  prisoners  on  board,  as  soon  as  they  espied  the 
Castilian  flag  in  their  wake,  had  risen  against  their  captors 
and  retaken  the  vessel.  As  he  watched  the  chase  and  its 
result,  we  can  believe  that  for  once  the  thoughts  of  Columbus 
were  busied  rather  with  the  memories  of  his  fighting  days 
in  the  landlocked  Mediterranean  than  with  the  grandiose 
projects  of  later  years. 

Gomera,  as  the  very  farthest  outpost  of  the  Old  World, 
had  been  his  starting-point  into  the  Western  Ocean  on  each 
of  his  former  voyages.  On  the  first,  in  pursuance  of  his 
long-meditated  plan,  he  had  headed  his  little  squadron  due 
west,  and  held  to  the  parallel  of  the  Canaries  with  stubborn 
pertinacity,  in  the  conviction  that  on  that  course  was  to  be 
found  the  shortest  route  to  Cipango  and  Cathay.  On  the 
second,  steering  somewhat  farther  to  the  south,  he  had 
aimed  to  strike  the  islands  of  whose  existence  the  flight  of 
the  birds  on  his  first  voyage  had  hinted,  and  which  the 
natives  of  Hayti  had  afterwards  said  lay  in  that  direction. 
Both  of  these  ventures  had  proved  preeminently  fortunate, 
from  a  sailor's  point  of  view,  and  in  seeking  the  same  point 
of  departure  for  his  new  expedition  Columbus  was  doubt 
less  counting  upon  the  smooth  seas  and  friendly  gales  which 
had  so  greatly  aided  his  earlier  passages.  Here  he  decided 
to  divide  his  fleet,  sending  the  three  larger  ships  directly 
to  Hispaniola  and  taking  the  three  smaller  ones  with  him  to 
search  for  the  new  continent.  His  motive  in  doing  this 
was  twofold  :  first,  to  advise  Don  Bartholomew  and  Diego 
of  his  welfare  and  present  plans ;  and,  second,  to  furnish 
them  with  the  supplies  with  which  the  ships  were  laden. 
When  Coronel  had  sailed,  in  January,  the  future  was  still 
uncertain,  and  the  Admiral  sympathized  with  the  anxieties 
which  he  knew  must  possess  the  minds  of  his  devoted 
brothers.  After  consultation  with  his  captains,  he  drew  up 
a  set  of  formal  instructions  for  their  guidance  in  which  his 
own  intentions  are  exhibited  with  trenchant  emphasis.  The 
three  ships  were  commanded  by  loyal  adherents  of  the 
Admiral :  Pedro  de  Arana,  a  brother  of  Dona  Beatriz 


286        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

Enriquez,  the  mother  of  Fernando  Columbus  and  cousin 
of  Diego  Arafia,  the  ill-fated  governor  of  Navidad  ; l  Alonzo 
Sanchez  de  Carvajal,  whom  Las  Casas  characterizes  as  "  an 
honored  cavalier  "  ;  and  Juan  Antonio  Columbus,  a  Genoese 
kinsman  of  the  Admiral.  Each  of  these  captains  was  to 
command  the  whole  squadron  for  a  week  at  a  time,  in  rota 
tion.  They  were  to  steer  a  west-southwest  course  for  850 
leagues,  at  about  which  distance  they  should  find  the  island 
of  Dominica.  From  there  they  were  to  sail  west-northwest 
until  they  reached  San  Juan  —  or  Porto  Rico,  as  we  know  it. 
Passing  this  to  the  south,  they  were  to  sail  by  Mona,  Cape 
Engano,  Saona,  and  so,  coasting  the  southern  shore  of 
Hispaniola,  arrive  at  the  new  settlement  which  Don  Barthol 
omew  was  to  have  founded.  Wherever  they  should  land 
for  fresh  provisions  or  water,  the  Admiral  enjoined  in  posi 
tive  terms  that  they  were  to  pay  the  natives  in  trinkets  for 
everything  received.  However  little  they  might  offer  the 
Indians,  he  repeated,  it  would  secure  their  good  will,  even 
if  they  were  cannibals,  and  they  would  supply  the  Spaniards 
willingly ;  but  if  the  latter  should  attempt  to  take  anything 
by  force,  the  natives  would  hide  themselves  and  seek  to 
retaliate. 

As  for  himself,  he  added,  he  intended  to  steer  for  the 
Cape  de  Verd  islands  ("  which  the  ancients  called  the 
Gorgodes,  or,  according  to  others,  the  Hesperides,"  he 
explains) .  From  there  he  would  shape  his  course,  "  in  the 
name  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  with  the  purpose  of  steering  to 
the  south  of  them  until  I  get  underneath  the  Equinoctial 
Line,  and  follow  the  path  to  the  west  until  the  island  of  His 
paniola  shall  lie  to  the  northwest  from  me,  in  order  to  see 
whether  there  be  islands  or  lands  [in  that  quarter].  May 
Our  Lord  guide  me,"  he  concludes,  "  and  disclose  to  me 

1  Whatever  may  have  been  the  exact  nature  of  the  relations  existing 
between  Columbus  and  the  mother  of  his  second  son,  it  is  evident  that 
they  had  the  approval  of  her  family.  The  brother  and  cousin  of  a 
woman  who  has  been  wronged  do  not  place  their  lives  and  fortunes 
at  the  service  of  her  betrayer,  especially  in  Spain.  Las  Casas  —  a 
godly  man,  if  ever  there  was  one  —  says  of  Pedro  de  Arafia,  "  He  was 
a  greatly  respected  man  and  very  sensible,  whom  I  knew  intimately." 


SEEKING    THE    GREAT  SOUTH  LAND.         287 

something  which  shall  be  His  glory  and  that  of  the  King 
and  Queen,  our  sovereigns,  and  to  the  honor  of  all  Chris 
tians  ;  for  I  believe  that  no  one  has  ever  before  made  this 
voyage  and  that  this  sea  is  utterly  unknown." 

In  view  of  later  "events  it  will  not  be  superfluous  to  recall 
the  fact  that  whoever  should  follow  the  equatorial  line  to  the 
west  "  until  Hayti  lies  to  his  northwest "  will,  at  just  about 
that  time,  fall  upon  land  near  the  mouth  of  the  Amazon. 
By  their  own  admission,  or  that  of  the  most  honest  among 
them,  Pinzon,  Hojeda,  Vespucci,  and  the  other  imitators  of 
Columbus  who  successively  discovered  the  great  southern 
continent  after  he  had  visited  it,  had  secured  copies  of  the 
charts  and  writings  he  made  while  upon  this  voyage.  Under 
the  circumstances,  it  is  not  remarkable  that  they  all  should 
have  reached  the  mainland.  What  more  efficient  guidance 
would  they  require  ? 

Having  concerted  with  his  captains  the  course  to  be  pur 
sued,  the  Admiral  led  the  way  out  of  the  harbor  at  Gomera 
on  the  2ist  of  June.  The  whole  fleet  stood  for  Ferro, 
the  westernmost  of  the  Canaries,  which  had  been  the  point 
of  departure  for  all  his  calculations  on  the  two  previous 
voyages.  On  passing  this  island,  the  fleet  divided,  the 
Admiral  laying  a  southerly  course  for  Cape  de  Verd,  and 
Arana,  Coronel,  and  Juan  Antonio  Columbus  holding  to  the 
westward.  It  was  not  without  misgiving  that  the  Admiral 
watched  the  three  vessels  recede  in  the  dusk,  —  for  it  was 
sunset  when  they  parted,  —  and,  as  he  bade  his  officers  fare 
well,  he  commended  them  and  their  charges  to  the  special 
protection  of  the  Holy  Trinity.  His  care  was  less  for  them 
than  for  the  colony  whither  they  were  bound,  for  he  was 
haunted  by  the  fear  lest  his  people  in  Hispaniola  should  be 
suffering  for  the  want  of  the  supplies  he  was  taking  out. 
The  frequent  mention  made  in  his  journal  of  this  feeling 
testifies  to  the  persistency  with  which  it  assailed  his  mind. 

The  Admiral  reached  Salt  Island,  the  nearest  of  the  Cape 
de  Verd  group,  on  the  2yth  of  June.  Here  again  he  was 
among  scenes  familiar  to  him  from  the  voyages  of  his  earlier 
years  to  and  from  the  Guinea  coast,  and  the  sight  of  their 
barren  rocks  outlined  grimly  against  the  brilliant  azure  of 


288        THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

the  sea  leads  him  to  remark  sarcastically  that  these  islands 
are  falsely  named,  for  he  "  had  never  seen  a  green  thing  on 
them."  Passing  to  the  island  of  Buena  Vista,  —  which  was 
yet  more  sterile,  if  possible,  —  he  anchored  in  a  little  bay 
on  whose  shores  stood  six  or  seven  cabins,  most  of  which 
were  occupied  by  lepers  sent  there  from  Portugal  to  recover 
or  die.  His  object  in  touching  here  was  to  lay  in  a  stock 
of  salt  and  dried  goat's  meat,  the  two  productions  of  an 
otherwise  unfruitful  soil ;  and  when  his  boats  landed  to 
make  known  their  wants  the  Portuguese  Majordomo  of 
the  islands,  one  Rodrigo  Alonzo,  promptly  visited  the  flag 
ship  to  place  the  scanty  resources  of  the  island  at  his 
visitor's  disposal.  We  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  personality 
of  Columbus  in  the  entry  which  he  makes  in  his  journal  of 
this  visit :  how  the  lonely  official  derived  much  comfort  from 
the  good  cheer  offered  him  on  board  the  Spanish  vessel ; 
how  he  and  his  host  had  a  long  talk  on  the  subject  of  lepers 
and  leprosy;  how  they  discussed  the  merits  of  turtle- flesh 
as  a  cure  for  the  disease,  and  thence  passed  to  the  habits  of 
the  turtles  which  swarmed  in  the  waters  of  the  archipelago. 
All  this  is  set  forth  in  the  Admiral's  journal  with  such  minute 
ness  that  one  can  almost  see  him  and  his  guest  comparing 
notes  of  their  widely  diverse  experiences.  There  were  some 
consolations,  even  in  the  worthy  Majordomo's  lot,  for  he 
said  that  in  certain  years  the  islands  brought  him  in  a  reve 
nue  of  2000  ducats  from  the  sale  of  hides  from  the  goats 
killed  by  the  lepers.  But  he  dwelt  with  most  emphasis  on 
the  hardship  of  having  to  live  sometimes  for  months,  when 
no  vessels  arrived  from  Portugal  and  the  stock  of  bread  and 
wine  was  exhausted,  upon  nothing  but  the  flesh  of  these 
animals,  or  fish  and  turtles,  washed  down  with  brackish 
water.  The  Admiral  carefully  wrote  down  the  substance  of 
his  conversations  with  Rodrigo  and  his  few  fellow-residents, 
and  was  clearly  much  interested  thereby.  It  is  only  another 
instance  of  the  industry  with  which  he  gathered  every  item 
of  intelligence  new  to  his  own  experience. 

The  fleet  sailed  from  Buena  Vista  on  Saturday  night,  the 
3Oth  of  June,  for  Santiago,  the  southernmost  island  of  the 
group,  where  the  Admiral  expected  to  take  aboard  the  cattle 


SEEKING    THE    GREAT  SOUTH  LAND.          289 

intended  for  breeding  in  Hispaniola.  Reaching  port  on  the 
following  morning,  he  lay  at  anchor  for  several  days  waiting 
for  a  herd  to  be  collected,  but  secured  nothing  more  sub 
stantial  than  promises.  As  at  the  other  islands  where  he  had 
touched,  the  residents  of  Santiago  visited  the  Spanish  squad 
ron  and  offered  such  hospitality  as  they  controlled  to  the 
voyagers.  Columbus,  in  accordance  with  his  ingrained  habit, 
catechized  them  freely  and  gained  information  which  he 
thought  bore  directly  upon  the  present  expedition :  Twelve 
leagues  to  the  west  of  their  own  island,  his  visitors  told  him, 
was  that  of  Fuego,  and  some  Portuguese  mariners  who  had 
sailed  far  beyond  it  into  the  southwest  had  seen,  in  the  dim 
mest  distance,  another  and  greater  island,  which  had  not, 
however,  been  visited.  Other  navigators  in  these  same  seas, 
his  informants  added,  had  encountered  canoes,  manned  by 
negroes  and  laden  with  savage  merchandise,  steering  boldly 
from  the  Guinea  coasts  into  the  Western  Ocean.  Whither 
they  were  bound  was  mere  conjecture,  for  no  land  was  known 
to  lie  in  that  direction  ;  but  when  the  facts  were  reported  to 
the  late  King  John  of  Portugal,  that  geographical  schemer 
had  declared  that  there  surely  must  be  lands  in  the  southwest 
which  would  be  worth  the  finding.  This  unexpected  substan 
tiation  of  his  own  ideas  revived  in  the  Admiral's  mind  the 
remarks  made  to  him  by  King  John  in  1493,  when  he  visited 
his  Majesty  on  the  homeward  voyage  from  the  Discovery, 
and  he  enters  in  his  journal  his  reflections  concerning  the 
matter.  He  wished  to  sail  to  the  south,  he  repeats,  because 
he  looked  forward  to  finding  "islands  and  lands,"  by  the  help 
of  the  Holy  Trinity,  and  also  because  he  desires  to  see  just 
what  was  the  meaning  of  the  Portuguese  king  when  he  said 
"that  in  the  South  lay  Terra  Firma."  This  belief  was,  the 
Admiral  adds,  the  reason  why  King  John  insisted  upon  hav 
ing  the  boundary  between  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese 
spheres  of  exploration,  originally  fixed  by  Pope  Alexander 
at  100  leagues  west  of  the  Azores,  removed  to  370  leagues, 
for  the  King  calculated  that  within  those  limits  at  least  "  were 
to  be  found  marvellous  things  and  countries."  As  he  passed 
these  arguments  in  mental  review,  the  Admiral's  confidence 
in  the  success  of  his  undertaking  gathered  fresh  strength. 

19 


2QO        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

"  He  who  is  both  Triune  and  One  guide  me  in  His  mercy 
and  pity  ! "  he  concludes,  "that  I  may  serve  Him  and  give 
to  your  Majesties  and  all  Christendom  some  great  rejoicing, 
such  as  was  that  derived  from  the  finding  of  the  Indies,  which 
resounded  throughout  the  world." 

During  the  stay  of  the  Spanish  vessels  at  Santiago  the 
heat  had  been  intense,  although  the  sun  had  not  been  visible 
on  account  of  a  heavy  curtain  of  murky  cloud  which  seemed 
so  thick,  to  use  the  Admiral's  phrase,  that  it  might  be  cut 
with  a  knife.  These  unfavorable  conditions  told  heavily  on 
the  health  of  the  crews,  and  they  began  to  succumb  to 
the  common  malady  of  equatorial  regions  at  such  seasons. 
Fearful  of  a  general  outbreak  of  fever,  their  commander 
determined  to  wait  no  longer  for  the  expected  cattle,  and 
on  Wednesday,  the  4th  of  July,  weighed  anchor  and  laid 
his  course  toward  the  southwest.  He  gives  his  reasons  for 
doing  this  :  that  he  would  thus  reach  a  position  due  west  of 
Sierra  Leone  and  the  Cape  of  Santa  Anna  in  Guinea,  which 
are  beneath  the  Equator,  and  because  "  in  that  parallel  of 
the  world  the  greatest  amount  of  gold  and  other  objects  of 
value  is  to  be  found."  Once  the  Equator  was  reached,  he 
would  sail  directly  westward  to  verify  the  theory  of  King 
John  and  also  to  prove  the  truth,  or  the  reverse,  of  what  he 
had  been  told  by  certain  Indians  in  Hispaniola,  who  affirmed 
that  from  the  south  and  southwest  had  come  to  their  island 
a  black  race,1  bearing  spears  pointed  with  a  peculiar  metal 
called  "guanin."  The  Admiral  secured  some  of  these  weap 
ons,  and  when  this  metal  was  analyzed  it  was  found  to  contain 
56|-  per  cent  of  gold,  18^  per  cent  of  silver,  and  25  per 
cent  of  copper.  The  legitimate  inference  was  that  the 
country  inhabited  by  people  whose  military  arms  were  liter- 

1  The  belief  in  the  existence  of  a  black  race  on  the  coast  of  the 
Spanish  Main  became  a  fixed  article  of  faith  with  the  Spanish  explorers. 
Certain  tribes  of  the  upper  regions  of  the  Amazon  Basin  are  dark 
enough  to  be  described  as  "  black,"  and  there  is  no  reason  why  their 
ancestors  should  not  have  nad  contact  with  the  roving  Caribs  or  other 
islanders  of  the  Antilles.  Intercourse  between  the  islands  and  main 
land,  as  well  as  between  widely  remote  districts  of  the  latter,  was  far 
more  general  in  pre-Columbian  times  than  we  are  apt  to  imagine. 


SEEKING    THE    GREAT  SOUTH  LAND.         291 

ally  of  gold  and  silver  must  be  of  surpassing  richness,  and  it 
would  be  an  evil  day  when  such  an  one  should  fall  to  any 
power  other  than  Castile. 

The  weather  was  fair  and  the  breeze  light  for  several  days. 
On  taking  the  altitude  of  the  polar  star  on  the  night  of  July 
1 2th,  the  Admiral  found  that  he  was  in  5°  of  north  latitude. 
The  next  day  the  wind  dropped  suddenly  and  a  dead  calm 
set  in.  The  vessels  seem  to  have  entered,  from  one  moment 
to  another,  the  fiery  zone  of  the  early  geographers.  An 
intolerable  heat,  such  as  none  on  board  had  ever  experienced, 
fell  upon  the  ships,  which  lay  sluggishly  rolling  from  beam 
to  beam  on  the  oily  sea.  The  Admiral  had  been  as  far  south 
before,  along  the  African  coast,  but  the  violence  of  the  pres 
ent  heat  was  so  great  that  he  records  his  fear  lest  "  the  ships 
should  be  burned  and  all  on  board  perish."  The  first  day 
of  calm  the  sun  shone  in  all  its  fierce  vigor  from  a  cloudless 
sky,  but  for  the  next  seven  the  heavens  were  clouded  and 
occasional  showers  fell.  Had  it  been  otherwise,  the  Admiral 
writes,  not  a  man  could  have  escaped  with  his  life.  The 
wine-butts  burst  their  hoops,  the  water-casks  sprung  aleak, 
the  wheat  burned  like  fire,  and  no  one  ventured  to  go  below 
decks  to  repair  or  prevent  the  damage  ;  for,  if  life  was  insup 
portable  in  the  open  air,  in  the  seven-times  heated  holds  it 
was  impossible.  In  all  this  it  is  easy  enough  for  us  to  recog 
nize  the  stifling  climate  of  the  Equatorial  Calms,  where  the 
sky  is  pitiless,  the  ocean  repugnant,  the  ship's  deck  a  fur 
nace-lid,  and  the  air  a  debilitating  vapor ;  or  where  the  very 
rain  falls  warm  from  steaming  clouds,  and  lazy  hulls  rock 
idly  to  the  monotonous  rhythm  of  slatting  sails.  To  Colum 
bus,  notwithstanding  his  forty  years  of  sea-life,  it  was  all 
new.  As  day  after  day  elapsed  and  no  change  befell,  his 
mind  was  assailed  with  gloomy  forebodings.  It  was  second 
nature  for  him  in  such  stress  to  mingle  devotion  with  a  desire 
to  probe  the  causes  of  the  phenomena  surrounding  him,  and 
we  find  thanksgivings  for  each  shower  followed  by  specula 
tions  as  to  the  reasons  for  such  an  unexpected  condition. 
If  God  will  only  give  him  wind  enough  to  fill  his  sails,  he 
says,  so  that  he  may  escape  from  that  misery,  he  will  steer 
directly  west  on  the  parallel  he  now  was  on,  until  a  milder 


THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

climate  was  reached,  and  then  would  turn  south  again  to  the 
Equator.  It  was  an  error  to  have  come  so  far  south  at  once. 
He  recalls,  "among  these  glowing  fires,"  that  on  his  other 
voyages  the  mild  temperature  and  delicious  atmosphere 
which  had  so  enchanted  all  who  sailed  with  him,  were  not 
encountered  until  he  had  sailed  100  leagues  west  of  the 
Azores,  and  it  would  have  been  better  if  he  had  waited  to 
attain  that  meridian  on  the  present  voyage  before  steering 
for  the  Equator.  He  observed,  too,  with  apprehension,  that 
the  ocean  was  free  from  the  great  banks  of  sargasso  which 
had  so  attracted  his  attention  in  about  these  longitudes  on 
his  former  voyages  to  the  west,  and  that,  although  the  stars 
were  changing  and  the  heavens  assuming  an  unfamiliar 
appearance,  the  temperature  did  not  seem  to  moderate.  All 
this  argued,  to  his  mind,  a  yet  greater  intensity  of  heat  should 
he  persist  in  trying  to  reach  the  Equator  in  the  meridian 
where  he  then  was.  Moreover,  he  reflects,  the  Azores  — 
"  which  the  ancients  termed  the  Cassiterides  "  —  are  situated 
at  the  end  of  that  "fifth  climate  "  into  which  they  divided 
their  world,  and  all  below  this  was  supposed  to  be  too  ex 
cessively  torrid  for  human  existence.  He  does  not  fail  to 
reflect  upon  the  extraordinary  difference  between  the  present 
experience  and  that  of  the  voyages  he  made  in  earlier  years, 
along  the  African  coasts  to  the  Equator,  but  accounts  for  it 
by  supposing  that  the  forests,  rivers,  and  meadows  of  the 
neighboring  land  temper  the  heat  to  those  who  follow  the 
coast,  while  out  in  mid-ocean  no  such  mitigation  is  possible. 
It  is  evident,  from  the  extracts  from  his  journal  which  have 
come  down  to  us,  that  this  whole  episode  was  fraught  with 
keen  anxiety  for  Columbus.  Despite  his  philosophizing, 
there  was  far  too  great  a  difference  between  this  voyage  and 
any  other  he  had  made,  —  and  that  difference  too  nearly 
supported  the  older  theory  of  a  zone  of  torrid  flames,  —  for 
him  to  contemplate  with  equanimity  the  long  continuance 
of  this  portentous  and  distressful  calm.  The  untoward 
aspect  of  Nature  led  him,  as  was  his  wont,  to  spend  his 
nights  in  watching  and  revery ;  and  his  old  scourge  of  gout 
seized  the  opportunity  to  fasten  upon  his  exhausted  frame 
and  add  a  new  terror  to  his  many  trials.  Some  slight  con- 


SEEKING    THE    GREAT  SOUTH  LAND.         293 

solation  was  had  from  the  fact  that,  on  the  night  of  the  i4th 
of  July,  the  north  star  stood  at  seven  degrees  above  the 
horizon,  which  indicated  that  whatever  progress  the  vessels 
were  making  was  toward  the  north,  and  on  the  next  day  he 
was  yet  more  encouraged  by  the  appearance  of  some  birds 
and  flying-fish,  which  he  took  to  be  signs  of  not  distant  land. 
The  same  indications  were  seen  on  the  two  following  days, 
but  on  the  iQth  the  vehemence  of  the  heat  seemed  to 
increase  to  such  an  extent  that  all  hands  anticipated  nothing 
less  than  the  destruction  of  both  ships  and  crews.  This 
proved,  however,  to  be  their  last  day  of  suffering;  for  a 
favorable  breeze  sprang  up  as  suddenly  as  the  former  one 
had  died  away,  and  in  a  moment  the  squadron  was  once 
more  speeding  under  prosperous  canvas  into  the  now  inviting 
West.  The  hearts  of  Admiral  and  men  alike  revived  under 
the  cheering  change,  but  two  real  difficulties  still  remained 
to  vex  the  former's  spirits.  The  stock  of  water  on  board 
the  vessels  had  been  much  reduced  by  the  failure  of  the 
casks  under  the  fiery  ordeal  to  which  they  had  been  sub 
jected,  and  the  stores  intended  for  the  use  of  the  Hispaniola 
colony  had  seriously  deteriorated  under  the  same  destructive 
agency.  Either  of  these  accidents  was  sufficient  to  limit 
the  voyage,  and  it  became  apparent  that  no  great  time  could 
be  spent  in  beating  about  in  search  of  unplaced  lands. 
Meanwhile  the  ships  held  their  westerly  course  without 
interruption.  The  Admiral  did  not  now  intend  to  return 
toward  the  Equator  until  later  on  in  the  voyage,  but  he 
maintained  the  purpose  of  doing  so  before  reaching  the 
longitude  of  the  Carib  islands.  When  he  did  steer  again 
for  the  Line,  he  would  sail  on  westward  until  he  either  found 
land  or  came  to  the  south  of  Hispaniola.  In  either  event 
he  would  have  to  make  his  way  promptly  to  the  colony, 
both  for  its  sake  and  that  of  his  own  men ;  for  the  ships  were 
beginning  to  show,  in  yawning  seams,  the  effects  of  the 
scorching  to  which  they  had  been  subjected,  and  their  con 
struction  was  not  of  a  quality  to  permit  of  much  peace  of 
mind  once  they  began  to  leak. 

Late  on  Sunday,  the  22d  of  July,  the  wind  still  holding 
good,  the  sailors  were  rejoiced  to  see  many  flocks  of  birds 


294        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

passing  overhead  from  the  east-southeast  towards  the  north 
west.  This  continued  at  intervals  for  several  days,  and  the 
Admiral  drew  from  the  incident,  as  he  had  done  in  his 
earlier  voyages,  the  confident  expectation  of  shortly  falling 
in  with  land.  The  whole  week  passed,  however,  without 
further  novelty.  The  squadron's  course  remained  un 
changed,  no  doubt  because  of  this  hint  of  land  in  the 
north.  Each  morning  the  watch  in  the  bows  of  the  vessels 
expected  to  see  the  welcome  blue  haze  looming  above  the 
horizon,  and  each  night  closed  in  disappointment.  The 
Admiral  had  no  manner  of  doubt  that  land  was  compara 
tively  near;  for  the  pelicans  and  frigate  birds,  which  had 
so  often  heralded  the  neighborhood  of  new  shores,  were 
now  constantly  seen,  and  not  infrequently  lodged  on  the 
ships.  From  the  presence  of  all  these  signs  he  believed 
that  land  would  surely  appear  during  Monday,  the  30th  of 
July,  and  when  that  day  passed  without  novelty  he  fixed 
the  next  one,  Tuesday,  as  the  last  on  which  he  could  afford 
to  keep  to  his  present  course.  If  he  did  not  sight  some 
coast  on  that  day,  he  decided,  he  would  bear  more  to  the 
north  and  west,  so  as  to  make  Dominica,  or  some  other  of 
the  Caribs'  islands,  before  his  stock  of  water  was  exhausted. 
He  had  been  twenty-seven  days  under  sail  from  the  Cape  de 
Verds,  on  all  but  seven  of  which  he  had  made  fair  progress 
in  his  chosen  direction.  If  nothing  had  been  found  in  that 
time,  it  would  not  be  safe  to  continue  indefinitely  without 
putting  in  at  some  one  of  the  known  islands  to  refit. 

When  Tuesday  morning  dawned,  with  nothing  but  an  un 
broken  horizon  in  view,  he  gave  the  order  to  bring  the  ships' 
heads  to  north-northwest,  and  keep  that  course,  as  tending  to 
bring  them  nearer  to  the  Caribs'  islands,  without  altogether 
abandoning  their  westerly  direction.  The  early  hours  of  the 
day  were  spent  as  had  been  the  tedious  weeks  preceding  them, 
and  no  signs  more  notable  than  those  which  had  been  seen 
before  distinguished  that  morning  from  another.  Towards 
midday  an  incident  occurred  which,  considering  its  moment 
ous  consequences,  is  best  told  in  the  words  of  the  Admiral 
himself  as  he  wrote  them  in  his  journal :  "  As  His  Divine 
Majesty,"  he  writes,  "has  always  shown  mercy  to  us,  a 


SEEKING    THE    GREAT  SOUTH  LAND.          295 

certain  seaman  of  Huelva,  —  one  of  my  servants,  —  named 
Alonzo  Perez,1  by  chance  climbed  up  into  the  crow's-nest  to 
look  about,  and  descried  land  in  the  west,  at  fifteen  leagues' 
distance,  and  what  was  visible  of  it  was  three  mogotes,  or 
three  mountains."  The  announcement  that  land  was  in 
sight  from  the  masthead  was  soon  followed  by  the  rising  of 
the  blue  summits  above  the  horizon,  and  the  wearied 
voyagers  gave  vent  to  their  joy  with  an  effusiveness  pro 
portioned  to  their  recent  trials.  All  joined  in  chanting  the 
Salve  Regina,  "  with  other  pious  verses  and  couplets  con 
taining  praises  to  God  and  Our  Lady,"  and  the  Admiral 
formally  bestowed  on  the  yet  distant  shores  the  name  of 
Trinidad,  in  honor  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  and  in  allusion  to 
the  triple  peak  now  gradually  assuming  shape  before  his 
eyes.  "  It  has  pleased  Our  Lord,"  he  writes,  "  for  His 
divine  glory,  that  the  first  sight  was  three  mogotes,  all 
united ;  I  should  say  three  mountains,  all  at  one  time  and 
in  one  view.  May  His  Mightiness,  through  His  mercy,  so 
guide  me  that  He  may  be  greatly  served  and  your  Majesties 
derive  much  delight  from  this ;  for  it  is  certain  that  the  find 
ing  of  land  in  this  quarter  was  as  great  a  miracle  as  was  the 
finding  of  it  on  the  first  voyage." 

The  Admiral  indulged  in  no  rash  speculations  as  to  the 
territorial  extent  of  this  latest  landfall.  He  had  found  too 
many  great  islands  with  towering  mountain  chains  to  per 
mit  himself,  without  further  evidence,  the  grateful  illusion 
that  this  was  the  Terra  Firma  he  was  seeking.  But,  whether 
it  should  prove  to  be  this  or  only  another  Guadalupe  or 
Dominica,  it  did  possess  the  distinctive  value  of  showing 
that  land  lay  beneath  the  Equator  in  the  West  as  well  as 
in  the  East,  and  that  the  new  world  whose  gate  he  had 
opened  at  San  Salvador,  and  which  Cabot  had  found 
reached  into  the  farthest  North,  extended  indefinitely  toward 

1  Our  readers  will  recall  that  Columbus  was  careful  to  credit  one  of 
his  sailors,  Juan  Rodriguez  Bermejo,  with  the  first  sight  of  Guanaham 
in  1492.  In  now  crediting  Alonzo  Perez  with  the  first  sight  of  the  new 
continent,  it  seems  to  us  that  he  furnished  a  conclusive  answer  to  the 
modern  allegation  that  he  sought  to  appropriate  to  himself  the  merits 
of  his  subordinates. 


296        THE   LAST    VOYAGES    OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

the  unplaced  southern  pole.  He  realized,  even  at  this  early 
day,  that  the  establishing  of  its  extent  lay  beyond  his  sphere 
of  duty  and  must  necessarily  fall  to  others.  The  arguments 
of  Jayme  Ferrer,  who  had  urged  him  in  1495  to  prosecute 
his  plans  of  trans- equatorial  investigation,  and  of  the  older 
philosophers  recurred  with  fresh  force  to  his  mind.  In  the 
South  lay  the  greatest  treasures.  So  it  had  proved  in  Africa, 
and  so  it  would  prove  here,  if  he  might  judge  by  those  spear 
heads  of  guanin.  "I  am  now  in  the  same  parallel  as  that 
from  which  the  gold  is  taken  for  the  King  of  Portugal,"  he 
wrote  in  his  journal,  "  and  whoever  shall  explore  these  seas 
should  find  things  of  great  value."  This  partial  justification 
of  his  theory  of  a  southern  continent  he  attributes  modestly 
to  Divine  mercy,  — "  for  there  is  no  man  in  the  world  to 
whom  God  has  shown  such  grace."  He  rejoices  in  con 
templating  the  satisfaction  with  which  Ferdinand  and  Isa 
bella  will  receive  the  tidings  of  his  success,  and  reverts  with 
a  natural  pride  to  the  prophecies  of  evil  which  "  the  wicked 
tongues  and  false  witnesses  through  envy  related  "  concern 
ing  the  outcome  of  his  undertaking.  "Even  should  no 
other  advantage  result,"  he  writes,  "except  these  beautiful 
lands  which  are  so  fertile  and  so  filled  with  forests  and 
palm-trees  that  they  put  to  shame  the  gardens  of  Valencia 
in  May,  they  ought  to  be  held  in  high  esteem."  And  he 
closes  his  reflections  with  the  pregnant  remark  "  that  it  is  a 
miracle  that  as  near  to  the  Equator  as  6°  the  sovereigns  of 
Castile  now  possess  dominions,  whereas  Isabella  is  distant 
24°  from  the  Equatorial  Line." 

He  might  have  made  San  Salvador,  four  degrees  farther 
north,  his  basis  of  calculation.  To  have  added,  in  six 
years,  to  the  petty  acreage  of  Aragon  and  Castile  an  empire 
already  to  be  estimated  only  by  climatic  zones,  one  whose 
limits  might,  without  extravagance,  even  then  be  supposed 
to  rival  those  of  Africa,  was  a  vaster  achievement  in  the 
closing  years  of  the  fifteenth  century  than  it  appears  in  those 
of  the  nineteenth.  We  may  search  with  all  the  captious- 
ness  of  prejudice  in  the  writings  of  Columbus,  even  when 
he  was  presumably  in  the  full  flush  of  a  triumphant  vindica 
tion  of  his  much-maligned  project,  and  we  shall  fail  to  find 


SEEKING    THE    GREAT  SOUTH  LAND.         297 

a  word  of  vaunting  or  vainglory.  He  knew  far  less  of 
geography  than  most  of  his  modern  critics  and  was  un 
speakably  their  inferior  in  the  art  of  self-advertisement,  but 
he  had  an  uncanny  habit  of  working  out  by  courage,  endur 
ance,  and  patient  faith  the  problems  he  set  himself  to  solve. 
That  he  fully  realized  the  scope  of  these,  his  future  course 
will  show. 


XV. 

"THESE   LANDS   ARE   ANOTHER  WORLD.1' 

NIGHT  was  falling  when  the  squadron  approached  the 
shores  of  Trinidad,  a  little  to  the  north  of  the  point 
of  land  which  had  been  first  seen.  The  Admiral  had  called 
this  Galley  Point,  from  a  rock  which  bore  some  resem 
blance  to  one  of  those  crafts  under  sail,  and  had  altered 
his  course  for  it  as  soon  as  the  land  lifted  so  that  the 
coast-line  was  apparent.  As  he  drew  nearer  he  scanned 
its  every  feature  with  anxious  attention,  for  he  half  feared 
lest  he  should  find  the  regions  so  near  the  Equator  less  in 
viting  than  the  fertile  islands  farther  north.  To  his  great 
contentment  the  mountains  and  shore  were  alike  covered 
with  luxuriant  forests  which  yielded  nothing  in  beauty  to 
those  of  Hayti  and  Cuba.  Finding  no  safe  anchorage  near 
where  he  first  made  the  land,  he  put  about  and  stood  south 
wards,  along  the  coast,  intending  to  find  shelter  behind  the 
cape.  Darkness  closed  in  before  a  harbor  was  found,  but 
in  the  meantime  the  Admiral  had  noticed  a  number  of 
people  gathering  on  the  beach,  together  with  houses  and 
signs  of  extensive  cultivation.  A  canoe  manned  by  natives 
was  also  discovered,  and,  although  they  paddled  away  in 
fright,  there  was  no  question  as  to  the  country  being  well 
populated  by  a  race  at  least  equal  to  the  Haytians  in  de 
velopment.  The  vessels  lay  to  over  night,  and  on  the  fol 
lowing  day,  the  first  of  August,  doubling  Galley  Point,  sailed 
down  the  coast  to  the  west.  By  this  time  the  Admiral  was 
satisfied  that  he  was  skirting  an  island  ;  doubtless  because, 
from  the  cape  named  (the  modern  Point  Galeota),  he  could 
298 


"THESE  LANDS  ARE  ANOTHER    WORLD."      299 

discern  the  abrupt  angle  which  the  southern  and  eastern 
shores  of  Trinidad  there  make.  The  lofty  mountains  which 
showed  inland,  with  the  long  extent  of  visible  coast,  satisfied 
him  that  the  island  was  a  large  one.  He  pursued  his  way, 
searching  for  a  place  where  a  landing  might  be  effected  and 
speech  had  with  the  people,  until  a  cove  was  reached  where 
he  came  to  anchor  and  sent  men  ashore.  They  reported 
that  they  had  found  fishing-implements  and  other  signs  of 
habitation,  but  had  seen  nobody.  They  spoke  with  enthu 
siasm  of  the  country's  fertility,  and  said  that  great  palms, 
lignum-aloes,  and  other  valuable  trees  abounded,  and  that 
among  the  tracks  of  other  animals  they  had  found  those  of 
goats.  What  was  of  more  immediate  importance,  they  had 
come  upon  both  springs  and  streams  of  delicious  water, 
wherefrom  the  exhausted  casks  on  board  ship  could  be 
replenished.  All  this  was  welcome  news  to  their  commander, 
as  confirming  the  impression  he  had  derived  from  scruti 
nizing  the  shores  as  he  sailed  by  them.  From  this  anchorage 
he  could  clearly  distinguish  other  land  to  the  south,  although 
at  a  distance  of  many  leagues.  It  appeared  to  extend  for 
eighty  miles  or  more,1  east  and  west,  and  to  be  an  island, 
whereupon  he  named  it  Sancta,  or  Holy,  as  a  complement 
to  that  already  called  Trinity.  On  the  next  day,  the  2nd, 
he  weighed  anchor  and  continued  westward  down  the  coast 
of  Trinidad,  sailing  close  inshore  so  that  he  might  examine 
the  country  as  he  passed  along,  and  watching  meantime  the 
Holy  Island,  which  lay  afar  off  in  the  south.  He  began  to 
be  impressed  by  the  obvious  size  of  the  latter,  for  it  seemed 
to  extend  into  the  remote  distance  ahead  of  him  :  "  it  must 
be  very  great,"  he  entered  in  his  journal.  His  attention 
was  diverted  from  it  by  the  approach  of  a  huge  canoe,  con 
taining  a  couple  of  dozen  men,  which  bore  swiftly  down 
upon  the  squadron  from  the  east.  It  was  checked  when  a 
gunshot  from  the  ships,  and  its  occupants  hailed  the  white 
men  in  a  loud  voice  and  with  many  words,  the  meaning  of 
which  was  lost  upon  their  hearers.  As  the  most  intelligible 

1  "  He  might  properly  have  said  for  2000,"  is  the  comment  of  Las 
Casas,  "  for  this  was  the  Terra  Firma." 


300   THE  LAST  VOYAGES  OF  THE  ADMIRAL, 

reply  possible  under  the  circumstances,  the  Admiral  caused 
a  number  of  tin  basins  and  other  shining  objects  to  be  dis 
played,  at  the  same  time  inviting  the  natives  by  signs  to 
come  nearer.  This  they  did  by  degrees,  advancing  a  little 
and  then  retreating,  but  always  keeping  at  a  safe  distance. 
After  two  hours  spent  in  this  fashion,  the  Admiral  sent  a 
party  of  the  sailors  up  on  the  poop-deck  to  dance  to  the 
music  of  a  drum  and  fife,  thinking  by  this  act  of  evident 
good-fellowship  to  satisfy  his  visitors  of  his  amicable  inten 
tions.  To  his  surprise  they  instantly  dropped  their  paddles, 
grasped  every  man  a  shield,  bow,  and  quiver  from  the  bottom 
of  the  canoe,  and  in  a  twinkling  had  sent  a  goodly  flight  of 
arrows  toward  the  vessels.  The  Admiral  stopped  the  danc 
ing  and  ordered  a  couple  of  cross-bows  to  be  discharged  in 
the  direction  of  the  canoe,  as  a  warning  to  the  bellicose  In 
dians.  The  effect  of  this  was  as  unexpected  as  that  of  the 
music,  for  they  at  once  laid  down  their  weapons  and  paddled 
quickly  away  from  the  flagship  and  under  the  stern  of  one 
of  the  caravels.  The  pilot  of  that  vessel,  hastily  gathering 
together  some  trinkets,  dropped  a  rope  over  the  ship's  side 
and  slid  down  into  the  canoe.  Singling  out  the  leader  of 
the  band,  he  gave  him  a  cap  and  skirt  such  as  the  Spanish 
sailors  wore,  while  to  each  of  the  others  he  gave  a  trifle  of 
some  sort.  The  Indians  seemed  delighted  with  their  re 
ception  and  made  signs  that  the  pilot  should  accompany 
them  ashore,  which  he,  nothing  loth,  signified  he  would  do. 
But  when  he  entered  his  own  boat,  and  rowed  off  to  the 
flagship  to  get  the  Admiral's  consent,  the  Indians  seized 
their  paddles  and  sped  away,  as  though  fearful  of  some 
treachery. 

No  one  had  been  so  close  an  observer  of  all  that  had 
occurred  during  this  incident  as  the  Admiral  himself.  These 
were  the  first  inhabitants  of  the  southern  lands  whom  he  had 
seen  near  at  hand,  and  their  every  movement  was  watched 
with  extreme  interest.  According  to  all  the  learned  theories 
of  the  times,  supported,  as  to  the  older  world,  by  the  evi 
dences  accumulated  in  Africa,  and,  as  to  the  new,  by  the 
reports  of  the  Haytians,  the  natives  of  the  South  should  be 
black.  Instead,  the  Admiral  remarked  that,  "  although  they 


"THESE  LANDS  ARE  ANOTHER    WORLD."      301 

are  so  near  the  Equinoctial,  they  are  not  black,  but  Indian 
color,  like  all  the  others  who  have  been  discovered."  If 
anything,  they  were  less  tawny  than  the  Haytians.  Of  good 
stature  and  proportions,  they  were  easy  and  graceful  in  their 
movements,  naked,  except  at  the  waist,  wearing  the  hair 
long  and  banged  at  the  forehead  like  the  Spaniards  them 
selves,  and  with  the  head  wrapped  with  a  scarf  of  gaudy 
colors.  Their  weapons  were  better  made  and  more  service 
able  than  those  of  the  northern  islanders,  especially  their 
arrows,  which  were  bone-tipped  and  barbed.  Their  cloths 
were  superior  in  quality  to  any  before  found  in  the  Indies, 
and  the  whole  appearance  of  the  men  indicated  a  higher 
type.  To  the  Admiral  all  these  indications  were  significant. 
They  lent  support  to  the  theory  that  in  the  unknown  South 
both  Nature  and  mankind  were  more  inviting  than  in  the 
North,  and  that  his  latest  exploit  was  likely  to  prove  his 
greatest.  Every  gesture  of  his  visitors  was  studied  with 
thoughtful  regard,  in  the  hope  of  extracting  some  intelligent 
meaning,  and  at  length  he  gathered  that  they  wished  to 
know,  among  other  things,  whether  the  strangers  had  not 
come  from  still  farther  south.  This  interpretation,  whether 
right  or  wrong,  at  once  suggested  a  weighty  inference  to  the 
Admiral's  mind  :  "  Toward  the  south  there  must  be  great 
countries,"  is  the  conclusion  he  reaches,  after  entering  the 
incident  in  his  journal.  And  thereafter  his  thoughts  turned 
naturally  to  the  distant  coast  of  the  Holy  Island. 

Continuing  his  westward  course,  he  came  to  the  long 
tongue  of  land  which  forms  the  southwestern  extremity  of 
Trinidad,  where  the  coast  of  that  island  turns  abruptly  to 
the  north.  This  cape  the  Admiral  named  Arenal,  or 
Sandy l  Point,  and,  as  it  offered  a  convenient  harbor,  decided 
to  come  to  anchor  and  allow  his  men  liberty  to  go  ashore. 
The  following  day,  August  3rd,  was  passed  in  this  manner, 
the  ships'  companies  spreading  through  the  neighborhood, 
revelling  in  their  strange  and  beautiful  surroundings  and 
devoting  themselves  to  the  enjoyment  of  an  experience  as 
novel  as  it  was  fascinating.  The  Admiral  himself,  preoccu- 

1  It  is  called  Point  Icacos  on  the  modern  maps  of  Trinidad. 


3O2        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

pied  with  his  desire  to  compare  these  equatorial  countries 
with  those  farther  north,  committed  to  paper  the  result  of 
his  own  careful  observations.  What  astonished  him  most 
was  the  notable  difference  between  Nature  and  man  in  this 
western  world  and  in  the  same  latitude  in  Africa.  The 
climate,  he  records,  was  much  more  temperate,  as  was  evi 
denced  by  the  lighter  color  of  the  natives  and  their  straight 
locks.  Indeed,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  sun  was 
in  the  constellation  Leo,  the  mornings  were  so  cool  as  to 
make  a  heavy  cloak  necessary  for  comfort.  The  forests  were 
far  more  luxuriant  in  their  growth,  coming  down  to  the 
water's  edge  as  though  undisturbed  by  storms.  The  rise 
and  fall  of  the  tides  were  much  greater  than  in  Spain,  and 
the  currents  very  swift.  The  fruits  and  birds  were  more 
varied  in  kind  and  of  larger  size  than  those  of  Hispaniola. 
Oysters  abounded  in  the  shallow  waters,  —  an  indication  of 
much  promise  to  one  whose  thoughts  were  of  the  pearls  and 
gems  of  the  Orient.  The  men  reported  an  infinite  number 
of  tracks  of  small  animals,  which  they  supposed  to  be  goats, 
and  this  also  was  different  from  Hispaniola  and  Cuba,  for 
there  were  no  animals  in  those  countries  larger  than  conies. 
In  short,  just  as  the  Admiral  had  always  found  the  climate 
change  for  the  better  on  reaching  a  longitude  100  degrees 
west  of  the  Azores,  so  now  he  found  it  still  milder  and  more 
temperate  the  farther  south  he  had  proceeded  in  the 
western  world.  A  comparison  between  this  amenity  and 
the  terrifying  heat  encountered  so  short  a  time  before  on 
this  same  parallel  farther  east  was  inevitable. 

From  Point  Arenal  the  coast  of  Holy  Island  was  clearly 
visible,  the  two  being  separated  only  by  a  narrow  channel 
eight  or  ten  miles  wide.  As  the  vessels  had  drawn  nearer 
the  western  cape,  the  opposite  shores  had  also  approached 
until  now  they  seemed  close  at  hand.  Looking  to  the  west 
and  north,  Holy  Island  seemed  to  trend  away  in  the  former 
direction  until  it  disappeared  in  the  distance,  but  in  the  lat 
ter  quarter  a  range  of  mountains  was  visible,  seemingly  on  a 
third  island  distinct  from  both  Holy  and  Trinidad.  To  this 
new  discovery  the  Admiral  gave  the  name  of  Gracia,  or 
Mercy,  Island.  Its  contour  was  so  much  more  imposing 


"  THESE  LANDS  ARE  ANOTHER    WORLDS     303 

than  the  comparatively  low  shores  of  Holy  Island  that  he 
decided  to  make  for  it,  but  before  leaving  the  security  of  his 
anchorage  he  wished,  as  a  prudent  navigator,  to  learn  some 
thing  of  the  waters  through  which  he  must  pass.  Several 
strange  circumstances  had  arrested  the  sailors'  attention. 
The  narrow  channel  between  Point  Arenal  and  the  nearest 
part  of  Sancta  was  broken  by  several  islets.  The  currents 
raced  through  it,  from  south  to  north,  with  extraordinary 
velocity,  creating  a  series  of  swirls  and  eddies  which  hinted 
of  sunken  rocks  and  reefs.  The  Admiral  noticed  that  this 
continued  both  night  and  day,  and  likens  it  to  the  fury  of  the 
Guadalquivir  in  its  times  of  flood.  To  retrace  his  course 
against  such  a  constant  tide,  and  the  prevailing  wind  as  well, 
seemed  to  be  well-nigh  hopeless;  to  risk  his  ships  in  those 
unknown  whirlpools  would  be  madness.  As  he  was  turning 
this  situation  over  in  his  mind  at  night,  a  new  anxiety  was 
added  in  a  sinister  roar  which,  originating  in  the  south,  drew 
rapidly  nearer  and  gathered  force  as  it  advanced.  To  his 
horror  the  Admiral  saw  a  huge  wave,  crested  with  a  line  of 
glowing  phosphorescence,  rushing  upon  the  vessels  out  of 
the  darkness.  To  his  disturbed  vision  it  seemed  to  be  as 
lofty  as  the  ships  themselves,  and  he  looked  for  the  instant 
destruction  of  his  crafts  and  all  they  contained.  The 
huge  breaker  bore  down  upon  them,  hung  above  their  coun 
ters  for  a  moment,  and  then,  passing  harmlessly  beneath 
them,  went  roaring  and  spuming  into  the  blackness  of  the 
channel  beyond,  where  the  startled  voyagers  heard  it  crash 
ing  and  hissing  for  some  time  after.  To  all  on  board  the 
three  ships  the  escape  seemed  pure  miracle.  One  of  the 
caravels  was  lifted  so  that  her  anchors  cleared  the  ground, 
and  borne  some  distance  off  by  the  great  wave.  "  Even  to 
day,"  the  Admiral  states  in  describing  this  experience,  "I 
feel  a  chill  of  fear  because  it  did  not  overwhelm  the  ship 
when  it  passed  underneath  her.  By  reason  of  this  great 
peril  I  have  called  this  channel  the  Serpent's  Mouth."  As 
such  it  stands  on  our  maps  to  the  present  time,  a  mute  wit 
ness  that  the  feeling  has  been  shared  by  other  navigators 
who  have  essayed  the  passage  since  Columbus.  Those  of 
our  readers  who  have  been  overtaken  by  the  giant  pororoca 


304        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

of  the  Amazon  or  the  Orinoco,  particularly  at  night,  will  not 
be  inclined  to  cavil  at  the  sentiment.1 

Impatient  to  leave  an  anchorage  fraught  with  such  dan 
gers,  the  Admiral  sent  a  boat  next  morning  to  sound  the 
channel,  determined,  if  a  passage  were  possible,  to  force  his 
way  through  its  angry  waters  and  steer  for  the  mountains  of 
Gracia.  His  men  found  a  depth  of  six  or  seven  fathoms, 
and  accordingly,  weighing  anchor,  the  squadron  entered  the 
Serpent's  Mouth.  The  transit  was  made  in  safety,  and  once 
in  wider  waters,  the  Admiral  found  the  sea  as  quiet  as  a 
pond.  Looking  astern  at  the  angry  turmoil  through  which 
he  had  come,  he  fancied  that  a  conflict  was  perpetually 
raging  between  the  waters  within  and  those  without,  and 
was  greatly  puzzled  thereby.  To  increase  his  wonderment, 
he  found  the  water  of  the  inner  body  to  be  sweet,  although 
it  extended  farther  than  the  eye  could  see  to  the  north  and 
west.  The  problems  of  the  South  were  even  more  mysterious 
than  he  had  thought. 

If  our  readers  will  look  at  the  map  of  South  America,  and 
follow  the  coast  of  Trinidad  from  Point  Galeota  at  its  south 
east  extremity,  past  Point  Icacos  at  its  southwest,  and  through 
the  Serpent's  Mouth,  they  will  understand  the  situation  of 
Columbus.  Off  his  starboard  beam  was  the  island  itself. 
Astern,  was  what  he  called  the  Island  of  Sancta,  in  reality 
the  delta  of  the  Orinoco.  Off  his  port  beam  stretched  the 
inland  sea,  which  the  Spaniards  call  the  Gulfo  Triste  and 
we  the  Gulf  of  Paria,  so  far  that  the  shores  of  Sancta  disap 
peared  in  the  western  distance,  confirming  his  supposition 
as  to  its  insular  character.  In  the  north  rose  the  highlands 
toward  which  he  was  steering,  separated  on  the  east  from 
Trinidad  and  lost  in  the  western  distance,  —  to  all  appear 
ances  another  vast  island.  Unconscious  of  the  countless 

1  The  critics  acharncs  of  Columbus  seem  to  derive  some  comfort  in 
attributing  this  incident  to  "  very  likely  an  unusual  volume  of  the  river 
water  poured  out  of  a  sudden."  We  have  ourselves  seen  an  open  vessel, 
not  much  smaller  than  the  Admiral's  two  caravels,  filled  and  sunken  by 
the  pororoca  so  suddenly  that  some  of  her  sleeping  crew  were  drowned. 
In  this  case  the  boat  was  riding  to  a  short  cable,  and  her  anchor  held 
only  too  well. 


"THESE  LANDS  ARE  ANOTHER  WORLD."   305 

streams  flowing  through  the  Orinoco's  mouths  to  his  south 
and  west,  and  supposing  that  he  was  sailing  through  another 
group  of  gigantic  islands  like  Guadalupe,  Dominica,  and 
Porto  Rico,  the  Admiral  revolved  in  his  mind,  as  he  swept 
across  the  landlocked  gulf,  every  hypothesis  known  to  him 
from  ancient  lore  or  the  learning  of  his  day,  in  search  of 
some  adequate  explanation  for  the  phenomena  surrounding 
him.  It  is  no  marvel  that  he  failed  to  find  one.  He  had 
not  as  yet  succeeded  in  having  speech  with  the  natives  of 
Trinidad,  and  so  was  without  even  such  little  help  as  could 
be  gathered  from  an  exchange  of  unintelligible  sentences 
and  often  misleading  gestures.  "  To  avoid  scandalizing  the 
country,"  to  use  his  own  words,  he  had  made  no  attempt 
to  seize  any  of  the  few  inhabitants  who  had  been  seen  as 
he  coasted  along  on  the  previous  days.  His  bewilderment 
became  greater  as  he  found  the  water  increased  in  freshness 
and  sweetness  as  he  proceeded,  and  although  he  could 
account  for  it  only  by  supposing  the  vicinity  of  some  stream 
or  streams,  he  could  not  imagine  the  existence  of  a  river 
great  and  powerful  enough  to  drive  back  the  ocean  itself. 
He  had  studied  the  geographical  works  of  his  day,  had  been 
off  the  delta  of  the  Nile,  and  had  seen  the  great  rivers  of 
Africa ;  but  nothing  he  had  seen  or  heard  of  would  account 
for  the  present  conditions.  The  problem  was  one  of  infinite 
attractiveness  to  him,  and  he  chafed  at  the  thought  of  his 
waiting  colony  at  Hispaniola,  and  its  probable  need  of 
the  half-spoiled  cargoes  he  was  taking  to  it.  Small  time 
remained  for  investigating  such  great  matters. 

With  a  fair  breeze  the  squadron  sped  swiftly  northward, 
and  before  many  hours  had  attained  the  northern  limits  of 
the  great  gulf.  The  entrance  to  the  open  sea  beyond  was 
barred  by  a  strait  only  half  the  width  of  the  Serpent's 
Mouth,  still  further  narrowed  by  three  small  islands.  The 
eastern  side  of  this  channel  was  formed  by  the  northwestern 
Cape  of  Trinidad,  which  the  Admiral  named  Boto,  or  Blunt, 
from  its  shape.1  The  western  side  was  a  prolongation  of 
Gracia  Island,  and  this  the  Admiral  called  Cape  Lapa.2 

1  Now  known  as  Point  Monos  (monkeys). 

2  The  modern  Cape  Salinas. 


306        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

Between  these  headlands  and  among  the  interspersed  islands 
boiled  and  surged  the  same  mad  currents  which  made  the 
Serpent's  Mouth  so  hazardous  a  portal  to  force.  To  dub  this 
outlet  the  Dragon's  Mouth  was  not  wholly  fanciful.  From 
this  position,  the  lofty  mountains  of  the  so-called  Gracia 
were  invitingly  near,  and  beyond  them  other  lofty  peaks  were 
discernible,  which  the  Admiral  assumed  to  be  different 
islands.  Before  passing  out  into  the  sea  beyond,  he  proposed 
to  learn  something  more  of  the  majestic  archipelago  through 
which  he  appeared  to  be  sailing,  and,  accordingly,  altering 
his  course  to  the  west,  began  to  coast  along  the  southern 
side  of  Gracia.  The  country  was  extremely  mountainous, 
but  broken  by  frequent  valleys,  each  contributing  a  stream 
of  crystal  water  to  the  waveless  gulf.  From  the  numerous 
cultivated  clearings  which  were  visible  from  the  ship's  deck, 
the  Admiral  saw  with  satisfaction  that  a  considerable  popu 
lation  existed,  and  resolved  to  hold  communication  with  the 
natives  before  proceeding  further.  The  vessels  were  brought 
to  anchor  in  one  of  the  excellent  harbors  with  which  the 
coast  abounded,  and  on  Sunday,  the  5th  of  August,  the  boats 
were  sent  ashore  to  try  and  find  some  of  the  people.  The 
Spaniards  came  upon  an  abandoned  cabin,  and  saw  other 
indications  in  plenty,  but  could  find  no  Indians.  They 
reported,  on  returning,  that  the  forests  were  filled  with 
monkeys,  and  among  the  fruits  which  they  brought  back,  the 
Admiral  thought  he  recognized  the  mirabolan  of  the  Asiatic 
Indies.  These  discoveries  —  for  monkeys  had  not  before 
been  met  with  in  the  western  islands  —  revived  his  thoughts 
of  the  Orient,  although  his  men  had  given  him  many  other 
fruits  which  he  had  neither  read  of  in  Marco  Polo  nor  met 
with  in  his  other  voyages.  There  were  great  clusters  of 
what  seemed  to  be  huge  grapes,  comely  apples  of  strange 
shape,  smooth-skinned  oranges  with  seeds  like  figs,1  and 
similarly  odd  but  appetizing  products  of  the  forests.  With 
renewed  interest  the  Admiral  weighed  anchor  and  continued 
alongshore  towards  the  west,  where  the  sierras  bent  farther 
inland  and  the  country  was  more  open.  The  next  day  he 

1  The  fruits  which  the  Admiral  thus  describes  were  apparently  the 
assai,  cajti,  and  guava,  respectively. 


"THESE   LANDS  ARE   ANOTHER    WORLD."      307 

reached  a  river's  mouth  where  he  again  anchored,  and  this 
time  saw  a  crowd  of  Indians  quickly  gather  on  the  beach. 
Four  of  them  manned  a  canoe  and  paddled  out  to  the 
nearest  caravel,  where  they  were  readily  seized  by  the  simple 
stratagem  of  inviting  them  to  draw  so  near  that  their  craft 
could  be  upset.  When  they  were  brought  before  the  Ad 
miral  he  gave  them  beads,  bells,  and  sugar,  and  soon  estab 
lished  a  basis  of  good  feeling.  In  answer  to  his  inquiries,  or 
rather  signs,  they  replied  that  their  country  was  called  Paria, 
and  that  towards  the  west  dwelt  very  many  more  people. 
As  this  was  the  extent  of  their  information,  he  directed  that 
they  should  be  returned  on  shore  with  fresh  presents.  When 
they  had  reached  their  companions  on  the  beach  and  related 
their  reception,  the  whole  throng  dragged  out  their  canoes 
and  paddled  fearlessly  to  the  ships,  where  they  were  received 
with  careful  evidences  of  friendliness.  They  were  all  armed 
with  bows,  arrows,  and  shields,  and  the  Admiral  observed 
that  the  arrows  had  been  dipped  in  some  mixture,  —  pre 
sumably  poison.  They  were  much  like  the  men  he  had 
seen  at  Trinidad;  taller  and  stouter  than  the  natives  of 
Hispaniola,  and  of  a  frank  and  agreeable  bearing.  They 
answered  freely  all  his  queries,  although  neither  he  nor  they 
understood  one  another.  In  return  for  the  hospitality  shown 
them,  they  brought  from  shore  and  offered  to  the  Spaniards 
some  of  their  native  bread,  together  with  earthen  jars  of 
water,  and  of  various  wines  made  from  their  fruits.  By  the 
next  day  a  great  multitude  of  Indians  had  collected  on  the 
beach,  and  their  canoes  plied  busily  all  day  between  the  ves 
sels  and  land,  crowded  with  curious  and  delighted  savages. 
To  all  some  trifle  was  given,  but  they  cared  for  nothing  but 
bells.  Of  beads,  and  the  other  trinkets  which  the  islands  of 
the  North  prized  so  highly,  they  made  no  account.  Every 
thing  was  subjected  to  the  test  of  smelling,  and  they  seemed 
to  think  more  highly  of  brass  and  its  odor  than  of  anything 
else.  They  were  generous  in  their  offerings  of  foods  and 
beverages,  and  brought  their  most  brilliantly  plumaged  birds 
to  the  strangers.  The  Admiral  found  some  of  these  that 
resembled  the  great  parrots  of  Guadalupe,  but  what  most 
attracted  his  attention  were  the  colored  cloths  used  by  the 


308        THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

natives  themselves.  These  were,  he  says,  in  texture  and 
dye  exactly  like  those  worn  by  the  tribes  of  Guinea  and  of 
the  Sierra  Leone  Rivers,  "  without  any  difference  at  all," 
and  yet,  he  adds,  there  cannot  be  any  communication  with 
those  parts,  for  they  are  more  than  3200  miles  distant  from 
where  he  now  is.  Tinctured  as  was  his  mind  with  the  theory 
of  the  world's  division  into  zones,  he  found  it  difficult  to 
conceive  how  countries  in  the  same  latitude  could  differ  so 
radically  in  people  and  productions  ;  hence  any  pronounced 
similarity  immediately  suggested  some  inter-communication. 
As,  on  his  first  voyage,  he  had  mentally  compared  every 
novelty  with  something  described  by  Marco  Polo,  so  now 
he  compared  each  new  experience  with  his  long-ago  obser 
vations  on  the  African  coasts.  Heretofore,  he  had  dealt 
with  regions  not  unknown  to  the  learned  world,  new  as  had 
been  his  method  of  reaching  them.  Cuba  was  Asia;  Hayti, 
Cipango  or  Japan,  and  the  Carib  archipelago  the  outlying 
islands  of  the  Orient.  But  now  he  was  under  a  new  heaven 
and  on  a  new  earth,  and  his  experiences  were  confirming 
his  conviction  that  this  quarter  of  the  world  had  been  as 
unknown  to  the  ancients  as  to  those  of  his  own  time.  Had 
he  found  the  negroes,  with  their  guanin-tipped  weapons,  of 
whom  the  Haytians  had  told  him,  he  would  have  felt  assured 
that  Africa  extended  around  three  quarters  of  the  Earth's 
circumference,  as  he  supposed  Asia  did. 

On  the  next  day  he  pursued  his  westward  way,  taking 
with  him  six  of  the  natives  as  guides.  Passing  near  a  point 
which  he  called  the  Aguja,  or  Needle,  he  found  the  neigh 
boring  country  more  populous  and  better  cultivated  than 
any  he  had  seen  on  this  cruise.  The  Indians  in  his  com 
pany  indicated  by  signs  that  in  this  district  dwelt  people 
who  were  fully  clothed,  or,  at  least,  so  the  Admiral  inter 
preted  their  gestures.  Such  an  intimation  was  enough  to 
arouse  all  his  early  enthusiasm,  for  where  the  people  were 
clad  could  not,  in  his  belief,  be  far  from  the  great  cities  of 
the  East.  Coming  to  anchor,  the  ships  were  soon  sur 
rounded  by  a  multitude  of  canoes,  but  their  passengers 
differed  nowise  as  to  raiment  —  or  the  lack  of  it  —  from 
those  seen  before.  In  one  important  respect  they  did 


"THESE  LANDS  ARE  ANOTHER    WORLD."      309 

differ;  some  of  them  wore  golden  plates  hung  from  the 
neck.  The  Indians  on  board  the  ships  again  exercised 
their  gesticulatory  abilities,  and  led  the  Admiral  to  under 
stand  that  gold  abounded  in  that  region  to  such  an  extent 
that  the  natives  made  looking-glasses  of  it,  like  those  of 
glass  which  the  Spaniards  used.  The  conjunction  of  such 
plentiful  treasure  with  the  reputed  race  of  well-dressed 
humanity,  offered  to  the  Admiral  an  inducement  to  make  a 
protracted  investigation  which  proved  well-nigh  irresistible. 
What  if,  after  all,  Cathay  and  the  gorgeous  realms  of  the 
Great  Khan  lay  in  this  direction,  rather  than  west  of  Cuba  ? 
What  if  Ceylon,  Java,  and  Sumatra  were  to  be  found  in  this 
southern  archipelago,  —  as  he  fancied  it  to  be  ?  It  was  no 
passing  phantasy  which  seized  upon  his  mind,  as  he  pon 
dered  over  this  tale  of  clothes  and  golden  mirrors,  for  it 
involved  the  reflections  and  conclusions  of  his  whole  mature 
lifetime.  Nor  was  it  a  facile  decision  which  he  at  length 
made,  to  postpone  to  another  occasion  all  attempt  to  probe 
the  •'  secrets "  of  these  lands.  He  must  only  view  these 
regions  hastily,  as  he  passed  them,  he  determined ;  for  the 
supplies  he  carried  for  the  colony  at  Hispaniola  had  only 
been  acquired  after  long  struggle  and  bitter  sacrifice,  and 
they  must  be  needed  there.  It  was  the  same  loyal  reason 
ing  which  had  led  him  to  turn  his  prows  northward  ten 
days  before,  when  he  had  failed  to  come  up  to  his  looked- 
for  southern  continent  within  the  limits  he  had  set. 

From  Aguja  high  lands  were  visible  both  in  the  south 
and  in  the  west,  about  fifty  miles  off.  As  these  did  not 
appear  connected  either  with  one  another  or  with  Paria, 
he  conceived  that  they  were  also  islands,  and  named  them 
Isabella  and  Tramontana,  the  latter  name  being  one  of  the 
few  traces  of  his  Italian  origin  which  we  find  in  the  nomen 
clature  of  his  voyages.1  Thinking  that  the  western  end 

1  The  Spanish  of  Columbus  is  very  cumbersome,  the  defect  being  in 
construction  rather  than  in  choice  of  words.  It  is  worth  remarking 
that  all  his  writing  is  cast  in  a  Portuguese  rather  than  a  Castilian 
mould,  and  that  in  the  only  instance  where  his  spoken  words  have  been 
literally  preserved,  he  used  a  patois  much  more  approximating  Portu 
guese  than  Spanish,  although  his  hearers  were  of  the  latter  nation. 
His  fourteen  years  of  residence  in  Portugal  and  her  colonies  affected 


310        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

of  Paria  —  or  Gracia  Island,  as  it  was  to  him  —  would 
be  reached  now  before  long,  he  planned  to  sail  to  that 
extremity,  turn  northwards  through  the  strait  between  it 
and  Isabella,  and  thus  make  his  way  into  the  open  sea 
north  of  Paria  and  so  to  Hispaniola.  What  he  fancied  to  be 
other  islands  were,  of  course,  the  more  distant  mountains  of 
the  same  mainland  along  which  he  was  coasting,  their  bases 
being  so  hidden  beneath  the  watery  horizon  that  they 
seemed  to  be  entirely  distant.  But  to  him  they  were  visibly 
islands,  and  when,  creeping  alongshore  to  a  thickly  settled 
savannah,  whose  fertile  charms  he  thought  entitled  it  to  the 
name  of  the  Gardens,  the  Admiral  dropped  anchor,  it  was 
to  learn  from  its  people  something  of  their  western  neighbors. 
The  Indians  not  only  were  decorated  with  the  same  orna 
ments  of  base  gold  as  those  of  Aguja,  but  they  wore  a 
greater  variety,  —  some  in  the  shape  of  horseshoes,  others 
of  beads,  others  of  collars.  One  of  the  men  had  a  lump 
of  gold  the  size  of  an  apple  slung  from  his  neck,  and  all  of 
them  wore  their  hair  bound  with  brightly  colored  cloths. 
The  women  were  even  more  gaily  decorated  than  the  men, 
and  among  their  strings  of  beads  the  Admiral  noticed  many 
pearls,  of  fine  quality,  not  like  the  few  dingy  specimens 
which  had  been  found  in  the  shallow  waters  north  of 
Hispaniola.  These  people  were  taller,  of  a  more  intelligent 
type,  and  of  a  fairer  complexion  than  any  he  had  met  in  the 
Indies ;  the  Admiral  says  that  "  many  of  them  were  as 
white  as  ourselves."  Their  houses  were  of  two  stories,  and 
their  canoes  elaborately  built,  with  covered  cabins.  In 
every  respect  they  impressed  him  more  favorably  than  the 
other  Indians  he  had  met.  After  their  fashion  they  seemed 
willing  to  be  frankly  communicative.  They  indicated  that 
in  the  West  this  kind  of  base  gold  was  very  plentiful,  but 
that  the  countries  were  infested  by  the  cannibals,  who 
devoured  men.  The  dreaded  word  seemed  to  have  the 
same  terrifying  effect  upon  these  people  as  upon  the  island 
ers  farther  north,  for  they  seized  the  arm  of  one  of  the 
Spaniards  standing  by  and  mumbled  it,  in  imitation  of  the 

indelibly  his  speech.  He  usually  refers  to  Sierra  Leone  as  "  Serra 
Leao,"  which  is  pure  Portuguese. 


"THESE  LANDS  ARE  ANOTHER    WORLD."      311 

horrid  banquets  of  the  man-eaters.  As  to  the  pearls,  they 
said,  they  came  from  a  region  on  the  other,  or  northern, 
side  of  Paria  and  more  to  the  west,  where  they  could  be 
gathered  in  profusion.  They  entreated  the  Admiral,  as 
soon  as  they  recognized  in  him  the  chief  of  the  white  men, 
to  go  ashore  with  them  to  visit  their  King ;  but  this  he 
could  not  do  on  account  of  his  gout.1  He  sent  some  of 
his  men  ashore  in  the  ship's  boats,  and  they  were  received 
with  much  honor  by  the  natives,  who  escorted  them  to  their 
houses  and  treated  them  with  such  hospitality  that  the 
sailors  returned  on  board  ship  loud  in  the  praises  of  their 
hosts  and  their  method  of  life.  They  reported  that  the 
men  occupied  one  side  of  the  houses  and  the  women  the 
other,  and  that  their  food  and  beverages  were  plentiful 
and  palatable.  Altogether  the  experience  was  a  fascinating 
one,  and  much  as  he  had  admired  and  enjoyed  the  charms 
of  Cuba,  Hayti,  Jamaica,  the  Bahamas,  and  the  Caribbees, 
the  Admiral  found  these  new  lands  to  be  the  more  favored. 
"  In  the  whole  world,"  he  writes,  "  there  cannot  be  more 
fertile,  lovely,  and  populous  lands,  and  the  climate  is  worthy 
of  them,  for  since  I  have  been  in  this  island  I  am  cold  every 
morning,  so  that  heavy  clothing  is  needful,  and  this,  although 
it  is  so  near  the  Equinoctial  Line.  The  sea,  also,  still  con 
tinues  to  be  fresh."  Here  was  the  crux  of  his  problem  ;  the 
monkeys  and  odd  fruits,  the  gold  and  pearls,  the  traces  of 
clothing  and  superior  advancement  in  the  arts,  the  light 
skins  and  amiable  dispositions  might  all  be  accounted  for 
out  of  Marco  Polo  or  the  Arabian  cosmographers  ;  but  who 
had  ever  heard  of  chilly  nights  near  the  Equator,  or  of  an 
ocean  of  sweet  water  ? 

The  torrential  rains  which  deluge  the  equatorial  regions 
of  our  hemisphere  in  that  season  of  the  year  in  which 
Columbus  was  groping  his  way  blindly  off  the  Northern 
Delta  of  the  Orinoco,  broke  up  the  agreeable  exchange  of 
hospitalities  between  ship  and  shore  which  had  been  initiated 
at  the  Gardens.  Weighing  anchor,  the  squadron  stood  a 

1  Both  Las  Casas  and  the  Admiral  mention  the  latter's  landing  in 
person  at  one  point,  at  least,  on  the  mainland.  This  has  been  some 
times  denied. 


312   THE  LAST  VOYAGES  OF  THE  ADMIRAL. 

little  farther  to  the  west,  until  the  water  began  to  shoal  so 
rapidly  that  the  Admiral  feared  to  venture  ahead  without 
greater  knowledge  of  the  soundings.  Both  Isabella  and 
Tramontana  were  nearer,  and  both  seemed  worthy  of  a  visit, 
especially  as  the  Indian  guides  insisted  that  gold  was  to  be 
found  in  the  former  and  pearls  in  the  latter.  Their  intima 
tions  as  to  cannibals  had  no  terrors  for  any  one,  least  of  all 
for  the  Admiral,  who  began  to  believe  his  guides  meant, 
after  all,  by  their  gestures  only  to  designate  ferocious  wild 
beasts  and  not  men.  "  In  these  islands  which  I  have  seen," 
he  wrote,  "  there  must  be  many  productions  of  value,  for 
they  are  all  great  and  lofty,  with  many  valleys  and  plains 
and  abundant  waters.  They  are  well  peopled  and  cultivated, 
with  a  race  of  excellent  understanding,  as  their  gestures 
show."  But  the  old  consideration  for  the  colony  in  Hispan- 
iola  withheld  him,  and  he  repeats  his  fear  lest  the  supplies 
on  board  his  vessels  should  spoil  if  he  delayed  his  going. 
To  obtain,  if  possible,  a  clearer  knowledge  of  the  region 
ahead,  he  ordered  his  smallest  vessel,  which  bore  the  appro 
priate  name  of  the  "  Correo,"  or  Runner,  to  continue  to  the 
west  and  reconnoitre  the  supposed  islands  in  that  quarter, 
especially  with  a  view  to  seeing  whether  the  ships  of  greater 
draft  could  find  a  passage  around  Paria  to  the  open  sea  in 
the  north.  While  this  was  being  done,  he  lay  at  anchor  with 
his  two  other  ships,  pondering  over  his  strange  environment. 
The  freshness  of  the  water  in  the  gulf  was  his  chief  bewilder 
ment.  "There  is  no  sign  from  where  it  comes,"  he  says, 
alluding  to  the  abrupt  nature  of  the  coast-lands  of  Paria, 
"  for  the  country  is  not  such  as  to  give  rise  to  great  rivers." 
Next  to  this  was  the  superior  richness  of  these  "  islands  "  as 
compared  with  those  farther  north.  Apart  from  the  notable 
fertility  of  the  soil  and  the  reputed  abundance  of  gold,  his 
attention  was  engaged  by  the  evident  profusion  of  pearls. 
The  Indians  parted  with  them  readily  and  made  no  secret 
of  the  place  of  their  origin,  and  the  Admiral  knew  that  the 
Orient  produced  nothing  more  highly  valued  by  the  mer 
chants  of  Europe  than  its  pearls.  Could  he  but  find  the 
places  where  they  could  be  had  in  plenty,  the  difficulties  of 
revenue-raising  would  be  vastly  reduced.  All  about  him, 


"THESE  LANDS  ARE  ANOTHER    WORLD."       313 

in  the  shallow  waters  along  shore,  he  noticed  great  thickets 
of  mangroves  growing  on  their  stilted  roots,  with  countless 
oysters  attached  to  these  and  to  every  branch  which  drooped 
beneath  the  surface  of  the  gulf.  These  oysters,  he  found 
upon  tasting,  were  white  and  palatable  as  to  their  flesh, 
••  although  they  require  a  little  salt,"  he  thought.  Their 
shells  were  not  of  mother-of-pearl ;  but  he  assumed,  never 
theless,  that  the  pearls  must  come  from  them,  because  the 
shells  were  usually  open,  and  he  had  read  in  Pliny  that  the 
pearls  were  engendered  by  dew  falling  into  the  open  mouths 
of  live  oysters.  Here  were  such  shell-fish  in  plenty,  and 
each  night  the  dew  fell  with  a  copiousness  new  to  his  experi 
ence  ;  ergo,  here  must  be  at  least  one  place  where  the  much- 
prized  baubles  "  were  born,"  and  could  be  had  in  endless 
quantity.  The  prospect  was  an  alluring  one  and  he  dwells 
on  it  with  complacency,  for  it  would  go  far  to  disprove  the 
assertions  of  his  enemies  as  to  the  poverty  of  resources  in 
the  Indies.  "Wherever  it  may  be  that  they  grow,"  he 
concludes,  "they  are  of  the  very  finest  quality,  and  the 
natives  bore  holes  in  them  as  is  done  in  Venice."  The 
whole  Gulf  of  Paria  was  thereupon  christened  the  Gulf  of 
Pearls,  and  the  Admiral  consoled  himself  for  much  of  his 
past  distresses  with  the  reflection  that  this  new  source  of 
wealth  would  bring  equal  delight  to  his  sovereigns. 

The  return  of  the  "  Correo  "  changed  the  current  of  his 
speculations.  Her  pilots  reported  that  they  had  sailed  to 
the  west  until  they  came  upon  a  broad  expanse  of  land,  run 
ning  from  Paria  clear  around  to  the  south  and  stretching 
out  of  sight.  There  was  no  channel  separating  Paria  from 
other  islands,  they  affirmed,  and  there  were  no  Isabella  and 
Tramontana :  it  was  all  one  great  country  enveloping  the 
Gulf  of  Pearls  on  all  sides.  At  the  western  extremity  of  the 
gulf  they  had  found  four  inlets,  through  each  of  which  poured 
a  river  of  fresh  water.  One  of  these  was  a  very  great  stream, 
carrying  five  fathoms  of  depth  as  far  up  as  they  had  sailed. 
The  Admiral  was  disposed  to  contend  with  the  pilots  that 
these  "  rivers  "  were  in  reality  only  arms  of  the  gulf,  separat 
ing  the  several  islands  one  from  the  other  ;  but  they  disputed 
his  opinion.  These  were  rivers,  they  insisted,  and  not  mere 


314        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE   ADMIRAL. 

channels.  There  was  no  strait  dividing  Paria  from  her  neigh 
bors,  but  one  continuous  territory.  It  was  impossible  to  find 
a  way  out  of  the  gulf  towards  the  north,  for  if  the  vessels 
proceeded  farther  westward  they  would  have  either  to  ascend 
some  of  these  rivers,  or  else  run  ashore. 

If,  on  the  one  hand,  the  Admiral  was  disappointed  on 
learning  that  he  could  not  get  to  Hispaniola  by  sailing 
around  Paria,  on  the  other  all  his  enthusiasm  as  an  explorer 
was  aroused  by  the  report  of  his  pilots.  Every  inclination 
of  mind  and  heart  urged  him  to  make  the  effort  "  to  pene 
trate  the  secrets  of  these  lands,"  to  add  a  new  array  of  mar 
vels  to  those  he  had  already  exploited.  Only  that  one  duty 
to  his  colony  restrained  him,  —  "  because  the  provisions  he 
carried  for  the  people  in  Hispaniola,  and  those  he  was  tak 
ing  for  the  use  of  those  who  were  working  in  the  mines 
gathering  gold,  would  be  lost."  The  memory  of  the  trials 
and  humiliations  which  he  had  been  forced  to  endure  by 
Fonseca  and  his  staff  in  obtaining  these  supplies  weighed 
upon  his  spirit  throughout  this  voyage  with  a  persistency 
which  indicates  the  mental  strain  to  which  he  had  been  sub 
jected. 

"  If  I  had  any  hope,"  he  writes  in  his  journal  in 
commenting  upon  the  return  of  the  "  Correo,"  "that  I 
should  be  able  to  get  any  more  supplies  within  reasonable 
time,  I  would  defer  all  else  in  order  to  discover  more  of 
these  lands  and  learn  their  secrets."  It  was  with  no  little 
bitterness  that  he  abandoned  the  idea,  for,  as  he  could  not 
and  did  not  fail  to  reflect,  had  only  a  little  energy  and  good 
will  been  shown  to  him  in  Spain,  he  could  long  since  have 
reached  these  new  shores,  and  had  ample  time  to  investigate 
them  before  making  for  Hispaniola.  In  determining  now  to 
sacrifice  his  own  preferences  to  the  needs  of  his  colonists,  he 
registers  his  firm  intention  to  send  Don  Bartholomew  from 
Hispaniola,  without  loss  of  time,  to  prosecute  the  exploration 
of  this  inviting  but  perplexing  country.  In  recording  this 
purpose  he  takes  occasion  to  call  the  attention  of  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella  to  the  vastly  enhanced  prospects  of  extended 
dominion  opened  up  by  this  latest  voyage,  and  in  so  doing 
employs  some  phrases  well  worth  transcribing. 


"THESE  LANDS  ARE  ANOTHER    WORLD."      315 

"  Here  your  Majesties  have,11  he  writes,  "  something  noble  and 
worthy  of  such  puissant  Princes.  It  is  a  great  error  to  put  faith 
in  those  who  speak  ill  of  this  enterprise ;  rather  should  they  be 
despised,  for  it  shall  not  be  found  that  any  other  Prince  had 
received  so  signal  a  mercy  from  Our  Lord,  or  has  had  an  equal 
success  in  an  affair  of  such  import,  or  one  of  such  honor  to  your 
royal  Estate  and  Kingdoms,  wherefrom  the  Eternal  God  may 
receive  greater  service  or  the  people  of  Spain  more  delight  and 
profit.  For  it  is  already  evident  that  there  are  countless  objects 
of  value  here,  and  although  this  that  I  now  say  may  not  be 
appreciated,  the  time  will  come  when  this  undertaking  shall  be 
counted  as  of  surpassing  excellence,  to  the  confusion  of  those 
who  have  opposed  it  before  your  Majesties.  And  although  you 
may  have  spent  somewhat  in  it,  the  outlay  has  been  made  in  an 
affair  more  noble  and  of  greater  dignity  than  anything  under 
taken  by  Prince  heretofore;  nor  should  it  be  now  abandoned, 
but  you  should  continue  with  it  and  extend  to  me  your  help  and 
countenance.  ...  I  have  never  learned,  either  from  written  or 
spoken  word,  that  any  sovereign  of  Castile  has  ever  acquired 
any  territory  outside  of  Spain ;  but  your  Majesties  have  secured 
these  lands,  which  are  another  world,  wherein  Christendom 
shall  so  much  rejoice  and  our  holy  faith,  in  due  time,  gain  such 
increase.  All  this  I  say  with  the  most  upright  motive  possible, 
because  I  wish  your  Highnesses  to  be  the  principal  sovereigns 
in  the  world,  —  I  should  say,  the  lords  of  it  all,  —  and  that  it 
all  may  so  be  to  the  great  service  and  acceptance  of  the  Holy 
Trinity,  so  that  at  the  end  of  your  days  you  may  enjoy 
the  glories  of  Paradise ;  and  not  for  what  may  affect  myself 
herein,  for  I  believe,  before  God,  that  your  Highnesses  shall 
soon  see  the  truth  of  it  all,  and  know  what  is  in  reality  my 
ambition.'1 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  the  Admiral,  when  he 
penned  these  words  on  the  nth  of  August,  fully  compre 
hended  the  significance  of  his  latest  discovery.  That  only 
occurred  to  him  some  days  after.  But  he  saw  that  this  was 
no  mere  group  of  islands  as  he  had  at  first  thought.  Some 
vague  idea  he  had  that  the  vast  body  of  fresh  water  forming 
the  Gulf  of  Pearls  might  be  the  discharge  of  an  underground 
river,  coming  from  a  long  distance,  and  he  did  not  altogether 
reject  the  theory  of  his  pilots  that  a  great  body  of  land  was 
to  be  found  in  the  West,  but  for  the  moment  he  clung  to 
the  belief  that  Paria  was  an  island,  although  a  huge  one. 


316        THE  LAST    VOYAGES    OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

Since  he  could  not  conclusively  determine  this,  for  the 
reasons  he  gave,  he  resolved  to  turn  back,  pass  through  the 
Dragon's  Mouth  to  the  open  sea  in  the  north,  and  coast 
along  that  side  of  Paria  to  see  whether  he  could  there  dis 
cover  the  strait  separating  it  from  adjoining  islands.  By 
doing  this  he  would  be  making  toward  Hispaniola,  and, 
without  consuming  an  undue  time,  might  succeed  in  solving 
the  enigma  of  the  great  gulf  of  sweet  water.  He  began  to 
doubt  whether  these  southern  lands  were  attached  even 
remotely  to  the  Asiatic  continent,  and  to  nurse  a  suspicion 
that  they  were  absolutely  new  to  European  knowledge ;  so 
his  allusion  to  "  another  world  "  than  that  known  to  his 
time  foreshadowed  the  conclusion  he  was  soon  to  reach. 
In  letting  his  imagination  picture  the  sovereigns  of  Castile 
becoming  the  principal  monarchs  of  the  whole  world,  he 
was  simply  multiplying  so  many  degrees  of  latitude  by  so 
many  of  longitude,  and  arguing  that  his  discoveries  already 
embraced  a  vaster  territory  than  that  ruled  by  any  monarch 
in  Christendom,  —  with  the  promise  of  infinite  extension. 
It  has  been  the  fashion  to  interpret  the  references  made  by 
Columbus  to  a  "  new  world,"  "another  world,"  and  the  like, 
as  being  figurative,  —  mere  comparisons  between  the  famil 
iar  regions  of  Europe  and  the  less  known  countries  described 
by  Marco  Polo,  Mandeville,  and  the  other  early  travellers  in 
the  East ;  but  this  was  not  always  the  case.  He  made  a  dis 
tinction  between  Cuba,  Hayti,  and  the  Caribbees  on  the 
one  hand,  and  the  southern  lands  on  the  other.  Those  were 
known  to  Polo  and  the  rest,  because  they  were  part  of 
Asia  ;  but  these  were  as  new  to  all  men  as  they  were  to  their 
discoverer  himself. 

It  was  night,  on  Saturday,  the  nth  of  August,  when  the 
Admiral  weighed  anchor  and  hoisted  sail  for  his  eastward 
run  back  to  Trinidad.  The  moonlight  which  flooded  the 
quiet  gulf  afforded  all  the  illumination  needful,  and  the  little 
squadron  sped  swiftly  past  the  low  shores  of  Paria  with 
their  background  of  sombre  shadows  where  the  sierras  hid 
the  northern  stars  from  sight.  Only  a  week  had  passed  since 
he  left  Trinidad  for  Paria,  and  yet  in  that  short  time  he  had 
been  confronted  by  more  and  deeper  mysteries  than  any 


"THESE  LANDS  ARE   ANOTHER    WORLD."      317 

which  had  hitherto  been  encountered.  Even  the  cruise 
along  southern  Cuba  was  plain  sailing  to  this,  for  there  he 
had  only  to  determine  whether  the  land  continued  on  indefi 
nitely,  or  not,  and  he  began  his  exploration  with  a  well- 
settled  conviction  that  it  did.  Here,  however,  was  a  series 
of  problems  which  were  taxing  his  ingenuity  to  the  utmost, 
and  for  few  of  which  he  could  find  the  solution  in  either 
his  own  earlier  observations  or  the  books  of  the  schoolmen. 
Nothing  that  he  had  seen  or  read  of  in  Africa,  Asia,  or  the 
Indies  was  applicable  to  much  that  he  had  met  with  in  the 
past  ten  days,  and  still  there  was  enough  of  similitude  to 
aggravate  immensely  his  perplexities.  His  nearness  to  the 
Equator,  and  the  belief  that  inhabited  lands  lay  beyond 
it,  only  added  to  the  confusion  of  his  ideas,  because  of  the 
views  held  by  all  of  the  philosophers  as  to  the  character 
istics  of  that  mysterious  zone.  His  experiences  since  leaving 
the  Cape  de  Verd  islands  fitted  with  none  of  the  theories 
with  which  he  was  familiar,  and  thus,  little  by  little,  the 
strange  conception  which  afterwards  possessed  him  began 
to  take  shape  in  his  mind.  Since  the  teachings  of  the 
learned  availed  him  nothing,  he  would  be  his  own  guide. 
One  must  admit  that  the  events  of  the  last  six  years  justified 
him  in  rejecting  the  theories  of  the  schools  and  preferring 
instead  the  light  of  his  own  reason. 

Only  a  night  and  a  day  were  spent  in  the  run  to  Trinidad, 
and  on  Sunday  the  squadron  came  to  anchor  under  Cape 
Lapa  at  the  eastern  end  of  Paria.  Here  he  spent  that  day 
and  the  next,  and  thought  of  Pliny's  "Catholicon"  as  he 
watched  the  open-mouthed  oysters  waiting  for  the  dew,  that 
was  to  turn  to  pearls,  to  fall  from  the  mangrove  leaves ;  and 
noted  the  neat  construction  of  some  native  cabins  on  shore ; 
and  examined  the  fruits  a  boat's  crew  brought  from  the 
neighboring  forest ;  and  speculated  on  the  source  of  that 
great  body  of  fresh  water  and  all  that  it  implied.  On  Mon 
day  night  he  got  under  way  and  ran  out  to  the  entrance  of 
the  Dragon's  Mouth,  where  the  channel  was  widest  between 
the  islands  which  lay  between  Paria  and  Trinidad.  Why  he 
chose  the  night  for  making  the  passage  out  to  the  north  is 
not  clear.  Perhaps  he  wished  to  use  the  ebb-tide  ;  perhaps 


318        THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

the  inflammation  of  the  eyes  from  which  he  was  suffering 
was  the  cause,  for  the  moon  was  near  the  full  and  in  those 
latitudes  its  light  is  far  more  brilliant  than  with  us,  while 
infinitely  less  trying  than  that  of  the  vertical  sun.  He  found 
the  same  angry  turmoil  of  waters  rushing  through  the  strait 
that  he  had  before  observed,  and  attributed  it  to  the  resist 
ance  of  the  salt  sea  beyond  to  the  exit  of  the  fresh  waters 
of  the  gulf.  The  wind  fell  as  the  vessels  embarked  in  the 
turbulent  current,  and  once  more  all  hands  gave  themselves 
up  for  lost,  as  they  heard  the  roar  of  a  great  wave  approach 
ing  and  saw  the  dark  wall  bearing  down  upon  their  becalmed 
hulls.  In  the  vain  effort  to  ride  out  the  danger  they  let  go 
their  anchors ;  but  the  depth  was  too  great,  and  they  were 
borne  like  chips  on  the  crest  of  the  combing  bore.  Rush 
ing  through  the  moonlit  channels,  lurching  and  pitching 
amid  the  dark  hollows  and  glittering  foam  patches,  the  ves 
sels  at  length  were  cast  in  safety  out  into  the  gentler  rollers 
of  the  open  sea  which  we  call  the  Caribbean. 

As  soon  as  he  had  examined  his  surroundings  by  daylight 
the  Admiral  steered  to  the  west,  intending  to  follow  in  that 
direction  the  northern,  or  outer  coast  of  Paria  at  least  as  far 
as  he  had  its  southern,  or  inner  shore,  —  a  distance,  he  esti 
mated,  of  nearly  200  miles.  To  the  north  he  saw  a  number 
of  lesser  islands  which  he  named  Assumption,  Conception, 
the  Pilgrim,  and  the  Witnesses.1  These  offered  no  induce 
ment  to  vary  from  his  course,  for  his  one  motive  was  to 
settle  the  geographical  nature  of  Paria.  The  depth  and 
violence  of  the  current  sweeping  through  the  Dragon's 
Mouth  had  already  suggested  to  him  the  idea  that  Paria 
"  at  some  period  must  have  been  continuous  land  with  the 
island  of  Trinidad,"  and  this  increased  the  interest  of  tie 
problem.  The  quiet  hours  of  Saturday  and  Sunday  had 
served  to  clarify  his  impressions.  He  would  make  a  final 
effort  to  ascertain  the  source  of  all  that  fresh  water,  whether 
in  fact  it  came  from  rivers  as  his  pilots  affirmed.  This  he 
was  not  even  now  prepared  to  admit,  he  says,  "  because 
I  have  never  heard  that  either  the  Ganges,  or  the  Euphrates, 

1  The  Testigos  and  their  neighboring  cays,  on  modern  charts. 


"THESE  LANDS  ARE  ANOTHER    WORLD."      319 

or  the  Nile  brought  down  so  much  fresh  water."  The  whole 
contour  of  the  country,  as  he  had  seen  it,  was  against  any 
such  assumption,  "  for  there  are  no  lands  so  extensive  that 
such  huge  rivers  could  have  birth  in  them,  unless  "  —  and 
the  qualification  was  the  outcome  of  his  forty-eight  hours  of 
cogitation,  —  "  this  is  Terra  Firma."  If,  therefore,  after  ex 
ploring  the  coast  for  a  sufficient  distance,  he  found  no  strait 
running  to  the  south,  he  would  know  that  Paria  was  not  an 
island,  and  "  would  then  affirm  that  the  fresh  water  was  a 
river ;  but  whether  it  is  or  not,"  he  adds,  "  it  is  a  great  mar 
vel."  He  scrutinized  anxiously  every  opening  in  the  shore 
line  as  he  crept  along  westward.  Monday  night  he  stood  off 
shore,  for  safety,  and  as  he  was  compelled  by  the  excessive 
inflammation  of  the  eyes,  caused  by  protracted  loss  of  sleep, 
to  abandon  the  watch,  his  navigator  allowed  the  squadron 
to  reach  too  far  out  to  sea,  so  that  when  morning  came  they 
were  close  to  a  large  island,  which  the  Admiral  named  Mar 
garita, —  the  Pearl.  Returning  to  the  coast  of  Paria  on 
Tuesday  morning,  he  continued  his  examination  throughout 
the  day,  until  he  estimated  that  he  was  at  a  distance  of  150  or 
1 60  miles  to  the  west  of  Cape  Lapa.  As  far  as  the  eye  could 
reach  the  coast  stretched  away,  preserving  the  same  general 
features.  The  pain  from  his  blood-congested  eyes  was  so 
great,  and  his  exhaustion  from  prolonged  vigils  so  complete, 
that  he  did  not  feel  disposed  to  continue  the  search  for  a 
strait  in  whose  existence  he  no  longer  had  faith.  Paria,  he 
now  saw,  although  beginning  in  a  narrow  point,  ran  indefi 
nitely  to  the  west  and  south,  widening  as  it  went,  as  was  the 
case  with  Cuba.  Its  northern  coast,  which  fronted  towards 
Hayti  and  the  Caribs'  islands,  was  washed  by  the  same  sea 
as  they.  Within  its  borders,  somewhere,  were  cannibals ; 
he  himself  had  secured  by  barter  a  goodly  quantity  of 
guanin.  The  only  satisfactory  explanation  of  the  great  gulf 
of  fresh  water  was  that  it  was  the  discharge  of  some  huge 
river,  and  his  pilots  had  seen  several  streams  of  no  ordinary 
size.  To  account  for  a  fresh  inland  sea  200  miles  long 
by  at  least  100  wide,  a  mainland  must  be  supposed  which 
equalled  in  extent  those  continents  which  gave  rise  to  the 
Ganges,  the  Nile,  or  the  Euphrates ;  but  there  was  nothing 


320        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

in  this  opposed  to  the  sound  deductions  of  philosophy,  for 
many  of  the  masters  held  that  six-sevenths  of  the  world's 
surface  was  solid  land ;  and  Asia,  Africa,  and  Europe  com 
bined  still  left  a  vast  superficies  to  be  accounted  for.  All 
these  considerations  united  to  produce  absolute  conviction 
in  his  mind,  despite  his  former  tendency  to  doubt.  What 
he  had  supposed,  a  fortnight  before,  to  be  a  new  group  of 
great  islands, — Trinidad,  Gracia,  Isabella,  Tramontana, — 
was  that  very  southern  Terra  Firma  which  he  had  set  out 
to  discover.  Trinidad,  in  the  remote  past,  had  been  broken 
off  from  the  continental  mass ;  but  the  rest,  called  by  the 
natives  Paria,  was  there  before  his  wearied  eyes,  inviting  to 
an  exploration  of  its  hidden  "  secrets."  His  work  was,  for 
the  moment,  done,  and  he  would  steer  now  for  Hispaniola 
to  attend  to  the  needs  of  his  government  while  Don  Bar 
tholomew  came  south  to  pursue  the  investigation  of  the  new 
continent.  For  this  was  a  new  mainland,  separate  and  dis 
tinct  from  that  of  Cuba,  — "  the  other  Terra  Firma  which 
he  had  discovered." 

"  I  am  convinced,"  he  wrote  in  his  journal,  addressing  Ferdi 
nand  and  Isabella,  "  that  this  is  Terra  Firma,  of  vast  extent,  of 
which  until  this  day  nothing  has  been  known.  Reason  brings 
me  great  support  in  this  conclusion  by  cause  of  this  great  river 
and  its  sea,  which  is  fresh.  Next  I  am  supported  by  the  decla 
ration  of  Esdras  who  says  in  his  Book  IV,  Chapter  6,  that  six 
parts  of  the  world  are  dry  land  and  one  is  of  water.  This  book 
is  approved  by  St.  Ambrosio  in  his  'Examenon,'  and  by  St. 
Augustine  at  the  passage  Morietur  filius  meus  Christus  as  Fran 
cisco  de  Mayrones  asserts.  Besides  this  I  am  assured  by  the 
statements  of  many  cannibal  Indians,  when  I  have  taken  them 
on  other  occasions,  all  of  whom  declared  that  to  the  south  of 
them  was  Terra  Firma.  At  the  time  I  was  in  Guadalupe ;  but 
I  also  heard  the  same  from  others  in  the  Island  of  Santa  Cruz 
and  in  San  Juan  [Porto  Rico],  and  they  said  there  was  much 
gold  here.  As  your  Majesties  know,  it  is  only  a  very  little  while 
since  no  other  land  was  known  except  what  Ptolemy  described, 
and  there  was  no  one  in  my  day  who  believed  that  one  could 
navigate  from  Spain  to  the  Indies.  Concerning  this  I  spent 
seven  years  in  your  Court,  and  they  were  not  few  who  consulted 
me  about  it,  but  at  length  only  the  lofty  spirit  of  your  Majesties 
caused  the  trial  to  be  made,  in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  all  those 


"THESE  LANDS  ARE   ANOTHER    WORLD."      321 

who  impugned  it.  Now  the  truth  appears,  and  will  appear  yet 
more  amply  before  much  time ;  for  if  this  is  Terra  Firma  it  is 
matter  for  great  wonderment,  and  that  it  is  such  will  be  con 
sidered  among  all  learned  men,  since  from  it  issues  a  river  so 
immense  that  it  fills  a  fresh  sea  200  miles  long."  1 

1  And  yet  even  the  always  impartial  and  sincere  Fiske  maintains 
that  "when  Columbus  died,  the  fact  that  a  New  World  had  been  dis 
covered  by  him  had  not  yet  begun  to  dawn  upon  his  mind,  or  upon  the 
mind  of  any  voyager  or  any  writer." 


XVI. 


FROM   PARADISE  TO   INFERNO. 

WHEN  Columbus  turned  to  the  west,  after  emerging 
from  the  Dragon's  Mouth,  he  was  so  broken  down 
in  health  from  his  prolonged  lack  of  sleep  and  the  uninter- 
mitted  strain  upon  his  faculties  of  the  month  which  had  passed 
since  he  left  the  Cape  de  Verd  Islands,  that  he  had  to  direct 
the  movements  of  his  squadron  from  a  couch  on  deck.  In 
especial,  his  eyes  caused  him  acute  suffering ;  they  were  suf 
fused  with  blood  to  such  an  extent  that  they  seemed  ready 
to  burst.  In  his  whole  life,  he  says,  not  even  on  the  Cuban 
voyage  when  his  thirty-three  nights  of  watchfulness  nearly 
cost  him  his  sight,  had  he  been  so  tormented.  When,  there 
fore,  on  the  1 5th  of  August,  his  pilots  reported  the  continua 
tion  of  land  toward  the  west,  and  he  reached  the  conclusion 
that  this  was,  indeed,  Terra  Firma,  he  equally  realized  that 
its  further  prolongation  must  be  confided  to  other  hands.  He 
had  reached  the  utmost  limits  of  his  physical  powers,  and, 
in  simple  truth,  could  do  no  more.  He  had  attained  a  point 
on  the  coast  of  the  modern  Venezuela  south  of  the  Island  of 
Margarita,  about  where  the  peninsula  of  Araya  encloses  the 
Bay  of  Cariaco,  or  Cumana.  Here  the  vessels  anchored  on 
the  night  of  the  i5th,  and  on  the  morning  of  the  i6th  he 
hoisted  anchor  and  left  the  coast  steering  northwest,  in 
demand  of  Hispaniola.  As  he  sailed  over  the  smooth  waters 
of  the  Caribbean  Sea,  his  mind  dwelt  insistently  upon  the 
problems  of  the  voyage  now  closing.  By  the  help  of  some 
associate,  or  by  a  supreme  effort  on  his  own  part,  he  man 
aged  to  continue  the  entries  in  his  journal,  although  he 
322 


FROM  PARADISE    TO   INFERNO.  323 

laments  their  enforced  brevity.  He  recites,  as  if  to  excul 
pate  himself  with  their  Majesties  for  any  apparent  lack  of 
zeal  in  prosecuting  his  discoveries,  the  causes  which  induced 
him  to  abandon  further  exploration,  dwelling  again  on  the 
necessity  of  getting  his  supplies  to  the  colony  at  Hispaniola 
before  they  were  spoiled,  and  adding  that  his  people  were 
worn  out  with  the  voyage,  and  he  did  not  dare  to  keep  them  at 
sea  any  longer.  They  were  not  shipped  in  Spain  for  a  voyage 
of  exploration,  he  says,  "  lest  they  should  have  made  some 
objection,  and  so  that  they  would  not  ask  for  more  money, 
which  I  did  not  have.  "  He  was  dissatisfied  with  the  draught 
of  his  ships  as  being  too  great.  His  preference  was  always 
for  vessels  of  light  draught,  and  the  recent  experiences  in  the 
Gulf  of  Pearls  had  demonstrated  again  their  superior  conven 
ience.  But  his  chief  reason  for  not  continuing  onwards,  even 
for  a  few  days,  was  the  fear  that  his  sight  was  about  to  leave 
him.  "  May  it  please  Our  Lord  to  free  me  of  them,"  he 
writes  of  the  tormenting  organs,  "  for  He  well  knows  that  I 
do  not  support  these  trials  to  accumulate  riches  or  to  find 
wealth  for  myself.  Surely  I  know  that  everything  done  in 
this  life  is  vain,  except  what  is  done  for  the  honor  and  service 
of  God,  and  that  is  not  to  accumulate  treasure  or  dignities, 
or  many  other  of  the  things  we  enjoy  in  this  world  and  to 
which  we  are  more  given  than  to  those  which  can  save  us." l 
The  disastrous  termination  of  the  Cuban  cruise  was  before 
him  as  a  warning  of  what  might  result  from  overtaxing  his 
powers,  and  he  might  well  dread  its  repetition. 

As  was  always  the  case  in  his  seasons  of  extreme  physical 
and  mental  depression,  the  Admiral's  reflections  now  began 

1  The  evidence  of  Las  Casas  is  so  universally,  and  correctly,  quoted 
against  Columbus  in  the  matter  of  enslaving  the  Indians,  that  it  may 
be  well  to  record  here  the  same  authority's  conception  of  the  Admiral's 
motives  in  general.  "  Verily  this  man  was  possessed  of  an  honest  and 
Christian  purpose,"  writes  the  good  Bishop,  in  reference  to  the  clause 
above  translated,  "  and  was  abundantly  content  with  the  condition  of 
life  to  which  he  had  so  meritoriously  attained,  wishing  to  support 
himself  therein  with  a  modest  competency  and  to  rest  from  so  many 
labors.  But  what  he  strove  and  toiled  for  resulted  only  in  placing  their 
Majesties  under  a  greater  debt,  although  I  do  not  know  what  greater 
one  was  needful  than  that  he  had  already  placed  them  under." 


324       THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

to  be  tinged  with  that  strange  brooding  mysticism  which 
is  so  foreign  to  the  Latin  temperament.  Pondering  over 
the  events  of  the  voyage,  especially  wherein  they  differed 
from  the  experiences  of  his  previous  passages  across  the 
Ocean  Sea,  his  mind  reviewed  all  the  cosmical  theories, 
sacred  and  profane,  which  he  had  read  in  the  course  of  his 
long  years  of  study.  None  of  them  accounted  for  the  enig 
matical  wonders  which  his  own  eyes  had  witnessed.  He 
enumerates  the  most  salient  of  these  before  recording  the 
singular  conclusion  at  which  he  arrived,  and  in  following 
them  it  is  needful  to  bear  in  mind  that,  virtually,  all  that 
was  known  of  the  Earth  outside  of  the  geography  of  Pliny, 
Strabo,  Ptolemy,  and  the  other  philosophers  he  cites,  he  had 
himself  discovered.  When  to  his  own  personal  observations 
and  the  adventures  of  Marco  Polo  were  added  the  teach 
ings  of  the  geographer  who  died  when  Pompeii  was  buried, 
Columbus,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  commanded  the 
Science  of  his  day  as  he  looked  out  over  the  sapphire  waters 
of  the  Caribbean,  and  mused  over  the  most  consistent  ex 
planation  of  his  latest  observations.  In  the  order  of  his 
reflections,  these  are  the  considerations  which  brought  con 
viction  to  his  mind:  (ist)  Contrary  to  the  arguments  of 
the  ancients,  and  to  his  own  experiences  in  Africa,  he  had 
found  the  equatorial  zone  in  this  western  world  not  only 
habitable,  but  possessing  a  climate  which  was  far  cooler 
than  that  of  Cuba  and  Hayti,  farther  away  from  the  Line. 
(2nd)  This  atmospheric  freshness  was  first  noticed  about  the 
same  meridian,  —  400  miles  west  of  the  Azores,  —  where  the 
needles  of  his  compass  first  showed  a  tendency  to  fluctuate 
in  pointing  to  the  Pole,  and  the  farther  west  one  came  the 
fresher  was  the  climate.  (3rd)  The  needle  fluctuated  more 
the  farther  north  he  was,  and  on  this  southern  cruise  its 
motion  was  imperceptible  until  he  left  Terra  Firma.  On 
the  night  of  the  i5th  of  August,  it  suddenly  began  to  vary 
wildly  from  the  true  north,  to  the  great  astonishment  of  all 
on  board.  (4th)  The  stars  were  differently  placed,  and 
particularly  the  Polar  star  and  its  "guards,"  —  Ursa  Major. 
(5th)  He  found  no  banks  of  sea- weed  in  the  South,  and  even 
when  the  winds  blew  there  was  little  sea  raised.  (6th)  The 


FROM  PARADISE    TO   INFERNO.  325 

farther  south  he  came,  in  the  western  world,  the  paler  and 
more  intelligent  he  found  the  people.  This  was  contrary 
to  all  precedent  and  expectation,  for  in  the  Azores  the 
natives  were  dark ;  and  in  the  Cape  de  Verd  Islands, 
farther  south,  still  darker ;  and  in  Sierra  Leone,  yet  nearer 
the  Equator,  absolutely  black,  with  curly  hair,  and  ignorant ; 
whereas,  in  this  new  land,  although  equally  far  to  the  south, 
they  were  lighter  than  any  others  he  had  seen,  had  straight 
hair,  were  more  courageous,  and  showed  more  natural 
capacity,  (yth)  There  was  that  great  body  of  fresh  water, 
only  to  be  accounted  for  by  supposing  the  existence  of  great 
rivers,  and  seemingly  without  any  adequate  outlet.  (8th) 
Finally,  the  ocean  currents  were  swifter  than  any  before 
encountered,  and  appeared  to  tend  uniformly  to  the  west, 
that  is,  away  from  the  great  basin  of  fresh  water. 

Nothing  in  the  pagan  philosophies  would  account  for  all 
these  discrepancies ;  but  the  Scriptures,  as  interpreted  by 
the  Fathers  of  the  Church,  would.  Paria  was  the  extreme 
western  extension  of  the  Orient,  —  more  so  than  Cuba, 
which  he  had  already  named  "  End  of  the  Orient,"  as  we 
have  seen.  In  the  remotest  East  the  theological  scientists 
had,  although  vaguely,  placed  the  Earthly  Paradise,  and  in 
that  Paradise  was  a  great  mountain.  Now,  to  the  Admiral, 
it  seemed  clear  that  Paria  must  be  the  beginning  of  that 
thrice-blessed  region ;  that  somewhere  in  its  interior  must 
be  that  great  mountain ;  that  from  its  summit  must  flow  the 
huge  streams  of  living  water  which  made  the  inland  sea  of 
Pearls ;  that  either  by  mouths  he  had  not  seen,  or  by  vast 
passages  tunnelling  beneath  earth  and  ocean,  those  waters 
found  their  distant  way,  west  or  east,  to  become  the  four 
Biblical  rivers,  —  Nile,  Tigris,  Euphrates,  Ganges  ;  that  the 
whole  surface  of  the  world  in  the  quarter  where  Paria  was 
situated  swelled  gradually  toward  Heaven,  beginning  at  the 
point  about  400  miles  west  of  the  Azores ;  and  that  as  one 
sailed  west  and  south,  so  did  one  imperceptibly  rise  higher 
and  higher.  In  short,  the  world,  instead  of  being  round 
like  a  ball,  was  round  as  a  pear  is  round,  —  with  a  pro 
tuberance  on  one  side.  This  would  account  for  everything 
he  had  observed,  the  Admiral  was  disposed  to  believe ;  for 


326        THE   LAST    VOYAGES    OF   THE   ADMIRAL. 

the  farther  he  sailed  on  that  course,  the  higher  he  would  get 
above  the  level  of  the  rest  of  the  Earth  ;  the  cooler  it  would 
be  ;  the  more  amiable,  capable,  and  physically  attractive  the 
inhabitants,  and  the  more  fertile  and  richer  their  countries. 
The  farther  he  ascended,  the  fresher  must  be  the  seas, 
while  the  force  of  the  downward  flow  would  create  just  such 
currents  as  he  had  met.  And  his  loftier  elevation  would 
both  give  to  the  heavens  their  changed  appearance  and 
cause  the  needle,  in  seeking  the  Pole,  to  vary  from  the 
position  it  assumed  on  the  lower  levels  of  Ocean. 

"Rampant  hallucinations,"  "wild  imaginings,"  and  "va 
garies  "  are  some  of  the  phrases  used  to  describe  these 
conclusions  of  Columbus.  The  charge  is  as  old  as  ignorance 
and  as  stale  as  bigotry.  Even  in  our  own  day  Gordon  of 
Khartoum  wove  a  dreamer's  web  about  the  stones  of 
Solomon's  Temple ;  but  the  world  was  none  the  less  the 
richer  by  the  labors  of  his  life  and  the  lesson  of  his  death, 
because  an  officer  of  the  Engineers  could  not  interpret 
Daniel  and  the  Apocalypse.  Columbus,  likewise,  let  his 
imagination  drift  to  the  Temple  and  the  Prophets ;  but  our 
debt  is  not  diminished  thereby.  If  the  nineteenth-century 
soldier  discarded  modern  science  in  his  speculations,  there 
is  the  more  excuse  for  the  fifteenth-century  sailor  disregard 
ing  the  contents  of  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica.  Of  his 
facts  he  was  sure,  because  he  was  their  discoverer ;  in  draw 
ing  from  them  what  strike  us  as  absurd  inferences,  he  was 
doing  no  more  than  thousands  have  done  since  and  we  are  all 
doing  to-day,  —  interpreting  facts  in  the  manner  most  accept 
able  to  the  observer's  mental  attitude.  Columbus  was  not 
weaned  from  a  pernicious  belief  in  the  Scriptures.  He 
considered  the  Fathers  to  be  their  best  interpreters.  When 
he  found  a  theory  sanctioned  by  the  Church,  which  seemed 
to  account  for  his  fact,  the  influence  was  greater  than  he 
could  resist ;  it  must  be  the  truth.  At  the  same  time,  he 
did  not  lend  himself  unreservedly  to  this  opinion.  It  was  a 
revery,  a  proposition,  rather  than  a  finally  accepted  dogma. 
As  he  sailed  away  from  the  shores  of  Paria  and  found  no 
more  islands  succeeding  Margarita,  but  only  the  open  sea, 
he  was  satisfied  that  Paria  was  indeed  no  island.  "  Either 


FROM  PARADISE    TO  INFERNO.  327 


it  is  a  great  continent,"  he  writes  on  August  lyth,  "or  else 
the  place  where  the  Earthly  Paradise  is."  Within  a  year  he 
learned  that  it  was  a  continent,  and  we  hear  little  more  of 
his  Caribbean  day-dream.  At  the  same  time,  as  in  nothing 
is  he  more  vociferously  ridiculed  than  in  this,  it  is  worth 
while  transcribing  his  own  presentation  of  his  idea  to 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella. 

"  I  have  always  read,"  he  wrote  a  few  weeks  later,  "  that  the 
world  —  land  and  water  —  was  spherical,  and  the  authorities 
and  facts  which  Ptolemy  and  all  others  have  written  about  this 
earth  affirm  and  testify  to  the  theory,  as  well  by  the  eclipses  of 
the  moon  and  the  other  evidences  adduced  from  east  to  west,  as 
by  the  elevation  of  the  Polar  Star  from  the  north  toward  the 
south.  Now  I  have  seen  a  great  discrepancy,  as  I  have  already 
said  ;  and  for  this  reason  I  have  been  led  to  think  this  of  the 
Earth,  that  it  is  not  round  in  the  manner  they  describe,  but  is  in 
the  shape  of  a  pear,  which  is  indeed  entirely  round,  except  where 
the  stem  is,  and  there  it  is  higher  ;  or  like  a  ball  which  one  may 
have,  which  on  one  side  has  something  like  a  nipple  projecting 
from  it;  and  I  have  thought  that  this  part,  or  nipple,  may  be 
the  highest  and  nearest  the  sky,  and  may  be  situated  below  the 
Equinoctial  Line,  in  this  Ocean  Sea,  at  the  extremity  of  the 
Orient.  For  I  call  that  the  extremity  of  the  Orient  where  all 
the  land  and  the  islands  end.1  In  support  of  this  I  advance 
all  the  reasons  above  alleged  concerning  the  line  which  passes 
from  north  to  south  100  leagues  to  the  west  of  the  Azores,2 
where,  in  sailing  still  more  westwardly,  the  ships  already  begin 
to  rise  gradually  toward  the  sky.  It  is  then  that  the  mildest 
temperature  is  enjoyed,  because  of  the  softness  of  the  prevailing 
wind,  and  the  compass  needle  begins  to  shift.  The  farther  one 
advances  the  higher  one  rises,  and  the  more  the  needle  tends  to 
northwest.  This  elevation  causes  that  irregularity  in  the  circle 
which  the  Pole  Star  makes  with  its  pointers,  and  the  nearer  one 
comes  to  the  Equinoctial  Line  the  higher  the  pointers  will  rise 
and  the  greater  will  be  the  changes  in  position  of  those  stars 
and  the  circles  they  describe. 

"  Ptolemy  and  the  other  philosophers  who  have  written  about 
the  Earth  believed  that  it  was  spherical,  holding  that  this  west- 

1  I.e.  as  one  goes  from  the  west  toward  the  east.     Compare  the 
reasons  given  by  Columbus  on  his  first  voyage  for  calling  Cape  Maysi, 
at  the  eastern  end  of  Cuba,  "  Cape  Alpha  and  Omega." 

2  The  line  of  no-  variation.     See  p.  324,  supra. 


328        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

ern  hemisphere  was  as  round  as  that  one  where  they  were,  the 
centre  of  which  is  in  the  Island  of  Arin,  under  the  Equator 
between  the  Arabian  Gulf  and  the  Persian,  and  that  the  dividing 
meridian  passes  through  Cape  St.  Vincent  in  Portugal  in  the 
West  and  through  Cangara  and  the  Seres  Islands1  in  the  East. 
As  to  that  hemisphere,  I  find  no  difficulty  in  supposing  it  to  be 
other  than  a  round  sphere,  as  they  say ;  but  this  other  hemi 
sphere  out  here  I  say  is  like  the  half  of  a  very  round  pear  which 
has  a  projecting  stem,  as  I  said  above,  or  like  a  nipple  on  the 
side  of  a  ball.  Consequently  Ptolemy  and  the  others  who  wrote 
of  the  Earth  had  no  information  about  this  half,  for  it  was 
utterly  unknown ;  they  based  their  theory  upon  the  hemisphere 
where  they  dwelt,  which  was  a  round  sphere,  as  before  said. 

"  Now  that  your  Majesties  have  ordered  this  one  to  be  sailed 
over,  explored  and  examined,  all  this  becomes  perfectly  evident. 
For  when  I  was  in  20°  of  north  latitude,  on  this  voyage,  I  was 
directly  off  Hargin  and  those  countries.2  There  the  people  are 
black  and  the  land  is  scorched  by  the  sun.  Afterwards  I  went 
to  the  Cape  de  Verd  Islands.  In  those  regions  the  people  are 
very  much  blacker ;  and  the  farther  one  goes  to  the  south  the 
more  pronounced  do  they  become,  until,  on  reaching  the  latitude 
where  I  then  was,  —  which  is  that  of  Sierra  Leone, — where 
the  Pole  Star  was  only  5°  above  the  horizon  at  nightfall,  the 
people  are  excessively  black.  After  I  had  sailed  thence  into  the 
West  I  found  those  extreme  heats,  but  once  the  line  of  which  I 
have  spoken  was  passed  I  found  the  mildness  of  the  temperature 
increase  with  such  rapidity  that  on  reaching  the  Island  of  Trini 
dad,  where  the  Pole  Star  likewise  was  5°  above  the  horizon  at 
nightfall,  both  there  and  in  the  region  of  Gracia  I  found  the 
temperature  to  be  of  the  softest,  and  the  earth  and  trees  of  the 
greenest,  as  beautiful  as  in  the  gardens  of  Valencia  in  April. 
The  people  of  these  countries  are  of  very  handsome  figure,  and 
whiter  than  any  I  have  seen  in  the  Indies,  with  long,  smooth 
hair,  and  they  are  the  brightest  and  most  intelligent  of  the 
people  I  have  seen,  and  are  not  cowards.  At  that  time  the  sun 
was  in  Virgo,  directly  above  our  heads  and  theirs,  so  that  all  this 
difference  is  caused  by  the  extreme  mildness  of  temperature  there 
prevailing,  which  is  due  to  the  fact  that  there  one  is  higher  up 
in  the  world  and  nearer  to  the  sky. 

"  Thus  it  is  that  I  affirm  that  the  Earth  is  not  a  sphere ;  but  it 
has  this  variation  I  have  mentioned,  which  is  in  this  hemisphere 
where  the  Ocean  Sea  and  the  Indies  are  found,  the  extremity 

1  The  Seres  were  the  people  of  Northwest  China,  according  to  Pliny. 

2  Arguin,  near  Cape  Blanco,  on  the  east  coast  of  Africa. 


FROM  PARADISE    TO   INFERNO.  329 

of  which  is  below  the  Equinoctial  Line.  That  this  is  correct 
is  strongly  confirmed  by  the  fact  that  the  sun,  when  Our  Lord 
created  it,  was  at  the  first  point  of  the  East,  or  the  first  light 
began  here  in  the  Orient,  where  the  highest  part  of  the  world 
is.  Although  Aristotle  held  that  the  highest  part  of  the  world, 
and  that  which  is  nearest  the  sky,  is  the  Antarctic  Pole,  or  the 
land  lying  beneath  it,  other  philosophers  dispute  this  opinion, 
saying  that  the  highest  land  is  beneath  the  North  Pole ;  whereby 
it  appears  that  they  believed  one  portion  of  the  Earth  must  be 
loftier  and  more  sublimated  than  the  other.  It  is  no  wonder 
that  they  did  not  conceive  that  such  part  should  be  underneath 
the  Equator  in  the  manner  I  have  set  forth,  for  they  had  no 
certain  knowledge  of  this  hemisphere,  but  only  a  passing  sugges 
tion  by  way  of  hypothesis,  since  no  one  has  ever  visited  it  or 
sought  to  find  it  until  the  present  moment  when  your  Majesties 
have  sent  to  explore  the  sea  and  land. 

"  I  find  that  the  distance  between  these  two  Mouths,1  which 
are  opposite  one  another,  as  I  have  said,  from  north  to  south,  is 
26  leagues,  —  and  there  could  be  no  mistake  in  this,  because  the 
measurement  was  made  with  the  quadrant.  From  these  two 
Mouths  toward  the  west,  to  the  gulf  which  I  called  of  Pearls, 
there  are  68  leagues,  of  4  miles  each,  as  we  are  used  to  calcu 
late  at  sea,  and  from  there  the  water  of  this  gulf  rushes  perpetu 
ally  with  great  force  towards  the  east,  for  which  reason  these 
Mouths  have  such  a  conflict  with  the  salt  water.  In  this  south 
ern  Mouth,  which  I  called  the  Serpent's,  I  found  the  Pole  Star  to 
be  about  5°  high  at  nightfall ;  while  in  the  northern  one,  which  I 
named  the  Dragon's,  it  was  almost  7°  high.  I  find  also  that  the 
said  Gulf  of  Pearls  is  west  of  the  Western  Meridian  of  Ptolemy 
almost  3900  miles,  which  are  nearly  70  equatorial  degrees,  count 
ing  56 \  miles  to  each  degree.  Now,  the  Holy  Scriptures  testify 
that  Our  Lord  made  the  Earthly  Paradise  and  placed  therein  the 
Tree  of  Life,  and  that  thence  flowed  a  stream  from  which  ema 
nate  four  chief  rivers  of  the  world,  to  wit :  the  Ganges  in  India, 
the  Tigris  and  Euphrates,  —  which  cleave  the  mountain  range 
and  form  Mesopotamia,  falling  afterward  into  the  Persian  Gulf, 
—  and  the  Nile,  which  enters  the  sea  at  Alexandria.  I  do  not 
find  and  never  have  found  a  writing  either  of  Romans  or  of 
Greeks  which  definitely  declares  where  is  the  site  of  the  Earthly 
Paradise  in  this  world :  nor  have  I  seen  it  placed  on  any  map, 
save  by  way  of  hypothesis.  Some  place  it  over  yonder  where 
are  the  sources  of  the  Nile,  in  Ethiopia ;  but  others  have  jour- 

1  The  Dragon's  and  the  Serpent's. 


330        THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

neyed  through  all  those  countries  and  have  not  found  such 
agreement  in  the  temperance  of  the  climate,  or  the  elevation 
towards  the  sky,  as  could  lead  to  the  belief  that  it  was  there, 
or  that  the  waters  of  the  Flood  had  reached  there  —  for  they 
overwhelmed  it,  and  so  on.  Certain  of  the  pagans  wished  to 
establish  by  arguments  that  it  was  in  the  Fortunate  Islands, 
which  are  the  Canaries,  and  so  on.  St.  Isidore,  Bede  and 
Strabo,  the  Master  of  the  'Scholastic  History,'  St  Ambrose 
and  Scotus,  as  well  as  all  the  sound  theologians  l  agree  that  the 
Earthly  Paradise  is  in  the  East,  and  so  on. 

"  I  have  set  forth  what  I  believed  about  this  hemisphere  and 
its  shape,  and  I  believe  that,  if  I  were  to  pass  below  the  Equi 
noctial  Line,  on  arriving  where  the  earth  is  highest  I  would  find 
a  much  greater  mildness  of  climate  and  a  difference  in  the  stars 
and  the  waters ;  not  because  I  believe  that  in  the  very  highest 
part  it  would  be  transitable,  or  there  would  be  water,  or  that  I 
could  attain  thereto,  —  for  I  think  it  is  there  that  the  Earthly 
Paradise  is  situated,  and  that  none  may  enter  it  except  by  Divine 
permission.  And  I  also  believe  that  this  country  which  your 
Majesties  have  just  sent  me  to  discover  is  very  great  in  size,  and 
that  there  are  many  others  in  the  South  of  which  nothing  has 
ever  been  known. 

"  I  do  not  consider  that  this  Earthly  Paradise  is  shaped  like 
a  rugged  mountain,  as  it  is  depicted  to  us  in  the  descriptions  of 
it,  but  that  it  is  on  the  summit  of  what  I  called  the  stem  of  the 
pear,  and  that  little  by  little,  as  one  advances  thither,  one 
ascends  towards  it  from  afar  off.  I  believe  that  no  one  can 
reach  the  summit,  as  I  have  said ;  and  I  believe  that  this  fresh 
water  may  come  from  there,  although  it  is  very  distant,  flowing 
into  the  place  from  which  I  have  just  come  and  forming  this 
lake.  Strong  evidence  is  this  that  these  lands  are  the  Earthly 
Paradise,  because  this  site  conforms  with  the  opinion  of  the 
holy  and  orthodox  theologians  I  have  cited,  and  also  because  the 
indications  likewise  conform ;  for  I  have  never  read  nor  heard  of 
so  vast  a  body  of  fresh  water  being  thus  within  and  adjacent 
to  the  salt  water.  The  extreme  mildness  of  the  climate  also 
confirms  this  theory.  But  even  if  this  stream  does  not  issue 
from  the  Paradise,  it  appears  to  be  even  a  greater  marvel,  for  I 
do  not  believe  that  in  the  whole  world  so  great  and  so  deep  a 
river  is  known. 

"  After  I  left  the  Dragon's  Mouth,  which  is  the  northern  one 

1  It  is  clear  that  Columbus  had  his  own  views  as  to  what  was 
orthodox  as  well  as  some  later  members  of  Mother  Church. 


FROM  PARADISE    TO   INFERNO.  331 

of  the  two  outlets  and  was  thus  named  by  me,  on  the  following 
day,  which  was  that  of  Our  Lady  of  August  [Assumption  Day] , 
I  found  that  the  current  set  so  strongly  to  the  west  that  after  the 
hour  for  Mass,  when  I  entered  on  that  course,  until  the  hour  of 
Vespers,  I  made  75  leagues  of  four  miles  each,  the  wind  not 
being  very  strong,  but  rather  light.  This  further  strengthens 
the  theory  that  one  ascends  in  going  southward,  while  in  going 
northward,  as  at  that  time,  one  is  descending. 

<;  I  hold  it  to  be  well  established  that  the  waters  of  the  ocean 
take  their  course  from  east  to  west,  with  the  heavens,  and  that 
when  they  pass  the  vicinity  of  which  I  speak  they  gain  addi 
tional  velocity.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  they  have  eaten  away 
so  much  of  the  land,  whereby  so  many  islands  are  found  here 
abouts  ;  and  they  themselves  bear  witness  to  this,  for  they  are, 
without  exception,  long  from  east  to  west  and  from  northeast,  to 
southwest,  —  which  is  a  little  more  above  or  below  the  same 
direction,  —  and  are  narrow  from  north  to  south,  and  from 
northwest  to  southeast,  which  is  the  direction  opposite  to  those 
just  mentioned.  In  all  these  islands  precious  commodities  have 
their  origin,  by  reason  of  the  favorable  temperature  which  they 
derive  from  the  sky,  because  they  are  near  the  loftiest  portion 
of  the  Earth.  It  is  true  that,  in  some  places,  the  currents  do  not 
appear  to  follow  this  course,  but  this  is  only  in  certain  particular 
localities  where  some  land  obstructs  them  and  makes  them 
appear  to  pursue  other  ways. 

"  Pliny  writes  that  the  earth  and  sea  together  make  a  com 
plete  sphere,  and  maintains  that  this  Ocean  Sea  is  the  largest 
body  of  water  existing  and  that  it  extends  toward  the  sky,  being 
upheld  by  the  land  beneath  it ;  the  one  being  mingled  with  the 
other  as  the  kernel  of  a  nut  is  enclosed  in  the  thick  shell  sur 
rounding  it.  The  Master  of  Scholastic  History,  in  discoursing 
concerning  Genesis,  affirms  that  the  waters  are  but  little  in 
quantity ;  that,  although  when  they  were  created  they  covered 
all  the  earth,  they  were  vaporous  like  clouds,  and  when  they 
afterwards  were  brought  together  and  solidified  they  occupied 
but  a  very  little  space.  In  this  view  Nicholas  de  Lira  agrees. 
Aristotle  declares  that  the  world  is  small  and  the  water  of  but 
little  extent,  and  that  one  may  easily  pass  from  Spain  to  the 
Indies.  This  is  concurred  in  by  Avenruyz ;  and  Cardinal  Pet- 
rus  Aliacus  says  the  same,  supporting  this  theory  and  that  of 
Seneca  (who  is  of  the  like  opinion) ,  and  maintaining  that  Aris 
totle  was  in  a  position  to  know  many  of  the  Earth's  secrets 
through  Alexander  the  Great,  and  that  Seneca  was  equally  well 
situated  through  Nero,  and  Pliny  through  the  Romans,  all  of 


332        THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

whom  spent,  men  and  treasures  and  exerted  great  diligence  in 
fathoming  such  problems  and  publishing  them  among  mankind. 
This  same  Cardinal  allows  great  authority  to  these  philosophers, 
more  so  than  to  Ptolemy  or  other  Greeks,  or  to  the  Arabs.  In 
support  of  the  contention  that  the  quantity  of  water  is  small 
and  that  part  of  the  world  covered  by  it  of  limited  extent,  as  is 
held  by  Ptolemy  and  those  who  follow  him,  the  Cardinal  quotes 
an  opinion  from  Esdras  in  his  3rd  Book,  where  he  says  that 
six  parts  of  the  seven,  into  which  the  world  is  divided,  are  not 
covered  by  water ;  which  opinion  is  sustained  by  the  Fathers, 
who  approve  the  3rd  and  4th  Books  of  Esdras,  and  which  is 
also  affirmed  by  Francisco  de  Mayrones.  As  to  this  question 
of  the  extent  of  dry  land,  much  experience  has  shown  that  it  is 
far  greater  than  is  commonly  thought ;  nor  is  this  to  be  wondered 
at,  for  the  farther  one  travels  the  more  one  learns. 

"  Reverting  to  my  problem  of  the  land  of  Gracia  and  the 
river  and  lake  I  found  there,  the  latter  is  so  great  that  it  might 
rather  be  termed  sea  than  lake ;  for  '  lake '  is  a  piece  of  water, 
and  when  this  is  great,  one  calls  it  'sea,1  —  as  we  say  the  Sea  of 
Galilee  and  the  Dead  Sea. 

"  But  I  maintain  that,  if  this  river  does  not  issue  from  the 
Earthly  Paradise,  it  does  come  and  proceed  from  a  land  of  infinite 
extent,  situated  in  the  South,  of  which  to  the  present  time  no 
knowledge  has  been  had.  Yet  I  am  very  firmly  convinced  in 
my  mind  that  the  Earthly  Paradise  is  yonder  where  I  have  said, 
and  I  rest  upon  the  reasons  and  authorities  above  quoted." 

Alexander  von  Humboldt  has  said  truly,  that  "  the  char 
acter  of  the  world's  great  men  is  composed  both  of  their 
own  intense  personality,  by  which  they  are  raised  above  the 
level  of  their  contemporaries,  and  of  the  general  disposition 
of  their  time,  which  they  illustrate  and  upon  which  they 
react."  ]  If  we  are  content  to  divest  ourselves  of  our  latter- 
day  knowledge  and  place  ourselves,  as  far  as  may  be,  in  the 
closing  years  of  the  fifteenth  century,  we  shall  see  in  this 
letter  of  Columbus  a  striking  portrayal  of  the  intellectual 
conditions  of  his  day.  It  is  not  possible  more  graphically 
to  depict  the  struggle  which  was  waging  in  every  intelligent 

1  Examen  Critique,  Vol.  III.  p.  13.  Unfinished  as  it  stands,  this 
noble  work  is  in  itself  a  monument  sufficient  even  for  the  merits  of  its 
illustrious  author.  It  is  a  great  loss  to  the  students  of  the  historical 
geography  of  our  hemisphere  that  it  has  never  been  translated  into 
English. 


FROM  PARADISE    TO  INFERNO.  333 

mind  between  the  authoritative  teachings  of  the  schools  and 
the  Church  concerning  the  world  we  live  in,  and  the  irre 
sistible  suggestions  of  Reason.  To  his  Church  Columbus 
felt  was  due  the  tribute  of  accepting  her  dogmas,  in  so  far 
as  they  were  obligatory ;  hence  he  believed  that  if  there 
were,  indeed,  an  Earthly  Paradise  he  had  discovered  it, 
and  he  honestly  marshalled  every  tittle  of  evidence  which  he 
could  summon  from  the  volume  of  his  experience  to  lend 
color  to  the  speculations  of  such  "  sound  theologians  "  as 
Saints  Augustine  and  Ambrose.  But  fealty  did  not  degen 
erate  into  fanaticism.  With  the  extreme  candor  which 
marks  all  of  his  reflections,  he  sets  the  contras  against  the 
pros  and  points  out  why,  if  there  is  no  Earthly  Paradise, 
the  region  he  had  just  left  must  necessarily  be  a  vast  con 
tinent,  drained  by  rivers  of  a  size  theretofore  undreamed  of, 
and  extending  far  below  the  Equator.  We  shall  have  taxed 
our  readers'  indulgence  in  vain  if  we  have  failed  to  bring 
before  them,  in  the  long  extract  above  quoted,  the  trend 
of  the  Admiral's  thoughts  as  he  sailed  away  from  the  con 
tinent  he  had  added  to  the  map  of  the  world.  It  is  a  cheap 
and  facile  sneer  to  intimate  that  his  one  object,  in  intro 
ducing  into  his  report  this  argument  about  Paradise,  was 
to  "  restore  the  enthusiasm  which  his  earlier  discoveries 
aroused  in  the  dull  spirits  of  Europe  "  by  "  a  glimpse  of  the 
ecstatic  pleasures  of  Eden."  There  is  little  testimony  to 
warrant  us  in  taking  Columbus  for  a  fool ;  still  less  for  sup 
posing  that  he  held  a  like  opinion  of  his  King  and  Queen. 
Yet  on  what  other  hypothesis  can  we  assume  he  acted,  if, 
in  sending  this  long  story  to  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  he  was 
merely  concocting  an  intricate  and  gratuitous  imposition? 
\Vhy  should  he  be  always  branded  as  the  knave  when  he 
shows  a  less  knowledge  of  geography  than  we  possess,  while 
the  similar  errors  of  Cabot  and  Vespucci  and  Da  Gama  and 
Magellan  are  deemed  trivial  —  as  they  should  be  ?  With 
the  words  of  Columbus,  which  we  have  copied,  before  him 
the  leading  exponent  of  this  view  of  the  discoverer's  life 
does  not  hesitate  to  affirm  that  "  he  had  no  conception  of 
the  physical  truth,"  and  he  lauds  the  "  clearer  instincts  "  of 
Vespucci.  But  what  was  left  for  Vespucci  and  the  Admiral's 


334        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

other  disciples  to  do?  The  Admiral  himself  proposed  to 
send  back  Don  Bartholomew  immediately,  to  continue  the 
exploration  of  the  new  continent.  He  prepared  a  map  of 
Paria  and  Trinidad  by  which  any  mariner  could  reach  them  ; 
he  logged  the  changes  in  the  stars,  the  variation  of  the 
needle,  the  set  of  the  ocean  currents,  the  height  of  the  tides, 
the  prevalence  of  the  winds.  He  explicitly  rehearsed  his 
reasons  for  believing  the  continent  to  be  a  great  one  and 
to  extend  far  to  the  south  and  west,  and  recorded  the  evi 
dences  of  population,  cultivation,  and  savage  wealth.  "  I 
saw  the  map  of  what  he  had  discovered,  which  the  Admiral 
at  that  time  sent  to  Spain  for  the  King  and  Queen,  our  sov 
ereigns,"  testified  in  later  years  Hojeda,  Vespucci's  com 
mander,  "  and  I  started  at  once  on  a  voyage  of  discovery." 
What  difference  did  it  make  whether  Columbus  thought  that 
the  Earthly  Paradise  might  be  situated  in  this  new  continent, 
or  whether  he  discovered,  as  one  of  his  pilots  mistakenly  testi 
fied  eleven  years  later,  "  the  Terra  Firma  which  men  called 
Asia  "  ?  The  gift  of  omniscience  was  as  rare  in  his  day  as 
was  that  of  Historical  Criticism.  All  he  knew  was  that  he 
had  found  a  new  and  vast  body  of  land  under  the  western 
Equator.  It  seemed  plausible  to  him  that  it  might  be  the 
Paradise  of  the  orthodox  geographers.  If  it  was  not,  it  was 
all  the  more  surprising,  for  then  it  was  utterly  new.  Just 
what  it  was,  he  intended  that  his  brother  should  investigate 
and  determine.  Circumstances  prevented  this.  Instead, 
certain  adventurous  spirits,  who  got  hold  of  his  maps  and 
reports  as  soon  as  they  reached  Spain,  rigged  out  a  number 
of  ships  and  crossed  the  Atlantic  to  follow  up  his  indications. 
They  found  that  there  was  no  lofty  Paradise,  but  that  he 
was  right  in  his  other  inferences ;  that  the  continent  did 
run  south  and  west  for  great  distances,  and  that  its  chief 
productions  were  cannibals,  brazil-wood,  and  parrots.  To 
that  extent  they  learned  more  than  Columbus,  and  had  a 
better  "conception  of  the  physical  truth."  We  know  a 
great  deal  more  than  even  they  about  the  same  continent, 
for  we  can  recite  the  names  of  its  turbulent  republics,  their 
capital  cities,  great  rivers  and  mountains,  and  the  lines  of 
railroad  running  inland  from  their  seaports.  Yet  neither 


FROM  PARADISE    TO  INFERNO.  335 

they  nor  we  found  the  American  mainland.  Its  discovery 
was  the  direct  fruit  of  "  the  wild  imaginings  of  Columbus," 
coupled  with  a  certain  quality  which  he  possessed  in  un 
measured  abundance,  and  which  in  other  men  we  honor  as 
Pluck.1 

Whether  Paradise  or  unknown  mainland,  the  Admiral 
fully  appreciated  the  value  to  the  Spanish  Crown  of  his 
latest  discovery.  In  his  journal  he  exhorts  his  sovereigns 
to  hold  these  new  lands  at  their  true  worth,  and  recites  the 
many  evidences  which  he  had  secured  of  their  productiveness 
and  wealth.  In  doing  so,  he  mentions  certain  pink  pearls 
which  he  had  obtained,  "  which  Marco  Polo  declares  to  be 
worth  more  than  the  white  ones,"  thus  furnishing  us,  contrary 
to  the  generally  asserted  error,  with  explicit  proof  that  he 
had  read  the  travels  of  the  garrulous  Venetian.  Crippled 
as  he  was  in  sight,  he  also  followed  minutely  the  movements 
of  the  stars  and  the  fluctuations  of  the  magnetic  needle ; 
and  he  records  the  fact,  that  in  this  southern  voyage  the 
latter  did  not  show  an  easterly  variation  until  the  night  of 
August  1 5th. 

When  Columbus  bore  away  from  the  coast  of  Paria,  he 
steered  for  that  part  of  the  southern  shores  of  Hispaniola 
where  he  had  ordered  the  new  city  of  San  Domingo  to  be 
founded.  Three  days  were  occupied  in  making  the  passage  ; 
but  when,  on  the  evening  of  August  igth,  he  neared  His 
paniola,  he  was  surprised  to  find  that  the  currents  had 
carried  his  vessel  so  far  to  the  east  that  he  was  off  the 
Island  of  Beata,  200  miles  from  his  desired  haven.  On 
the  next  morning  he  sent  a  crew  ashore  on  the  main 
island  to  have  speech  with  the  Indians,  and  was  not  a  little 
disturbed  when  he  saw  a  cross-bow  in  the  hands  of  one  of 
the  natives  who  came  aboard  in  answer  to  his  summons. 
His  anxiety  was  of  brief  duration,  however,  for  shortly  after- 

1  On  the  same  page  in  which  Dr.  Winsor  so  unsparingly  lashes  the 
crudeness  of  Columbus's  concepts  of  cosmography,  he  reproduces  a 
map  of  the  navigator's  day,  in  which  "  Paradise  "  is  given  a  prominence 
in  the  East  equal  to  that  of  Sumatra  and  the  Persian  Gulf.  Some  of 
us  moderns  do  not  feel  ourselves  to  be  such  very  Boeotians  because  we 
once  supposed  that  the  Nile  had  its  source  in  the  Mountains  of  the 
Moon. 


336        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

wards  a  caravel  appeared,  coming  from  the  direction  of 
San  Domingo,  which  proved  to  be  the  bearer  of  Don 
Bartholomew.  The  Admiral's  squadron  had  been  sighted 
as  it  passed  San  Domingo,  and  the  Adelantado  had  made 
haste  to  join  his  brother,  whom  he  had  long  expected.  On 
the  22nd  of  the  month,  the  four  vessels  weighed  anchor  for 
the  new  town,  and,  after  ten  days  of  tedious  beating  up 
against  wind  and  current,  reached  San  Domingo  on  the  3ist 
of  August,  1498.  The  Admiral's  health  was  far  from  restored  ; 
but  he  at  least  had  possession  of  his  faculties,  which  was  not 
the  case  when  he  reached  Isabella  from  his  Cuban  cruise  in 
1494.  With  this  exception,  there  was  a  dreary  likeness 
between  the  two  returns,  for  now,  as  then,  he  was  called 
upon  to  dismiss  from  his  mind  all  thought  of  his  triumph  as 
explorer,  and  plunge  abruptly  into  the  cares  and  turmoil  of 
a  contest  with  rebellious  colonists  and  revolted  native  tribes. 
The  oral  report  which  Don  Bartholomew  made  to  his 
brother  of  the  occurrences  in  Hispaniola  since  the  sailing 
of  Pedro  Alonzo's  fleet  in  1496  was  little  more  than  a 
catalogue  of  disaster.  True,  it  began  with  an  account  of 
Don  Bartholomew's  journey  to  the  southern  coast  to  choose 
the  site  of  San  Domingo,  and  his  subsequent  progress 
through  the  territories  of  Behechio  and  Anacaona,  at  the 
western  extremity  of  the  island ;  an  episode  which  forms 
one  of  the  most  charming  chapters  in  the  early  history  of 
our  continent.  But  the  idyllic  experiences  in  Xaragua  were 
all  too  brief.  During  the  absence  of  the  Adelantado  in  the 
west,  Francisco  Roldan,  whom  the  Admiral  had  left  as 
Chief  Justice  of  the  Island,  raised  the  standard  of  revolt  at 
Isabella,  gathered  about  him  sixty  or  seventy  of  the  more  de 
termined  among  the  disaffected  colonists,  defied  the  authority 
of  Don  Diego  Columbus,  emptied  the  royal  arsenal  of  its 
weapons  and  munitions  of  war,  seized  the  horses  and  cattle 
in  the  royal  corral,  and  marched  out  into  the  open  country 
to  live  as  his  fancy  dictated.  The  pretext  he  used  to  cloak 
his  actions  with  his  own  countrymen  was,  that  Juan  Aguado 
had  assured  him  that  the  Admiral  would  never  be  allowed  to 
return  to  Hispaniola,  and  that  it  was  not  for  high-spirited 
Castilians  to  support  the  authority  and  exactions  of  the  other 


FROM  PARADISE    TO   INFERNO.  337 

two  alien  governors,  Dons  Bartholomew  and  Diego.  To  the 
Indians  he  offered  freedom  from  the  tribute  imposed  upon 
them  by  the  Admiral.  At  the  bottom  of  the  whole  trouble 
seems  to  have  lain  Roldan's  abduction  of  the  wife  of 
Guarionex,  the  Spaniards'  ally,  and  Don  Bartholomew's  de 
mand  for  her  restoration  to  her  lord ;  but  there  must  have 
existed,  besides,  a  well-grounded  hope  among  the  rebels  that 
they  could  in  fact  supplant  the  Genoese  brothers  in  the  con 
fidence  of  the  King  and  Queen,  which  had  its  origin  in  the 
intrigues  and  suggestions  of  Aguado.1  Although  the  faction 
which  rallied  around  the  recreant  Justice  was  a  powerful  and 
unscrupulous  one,  it  was  a  minority.  The  fortresses  through 
the  settled  portion  of  the  island  were  garrisoned  by  men  who 
remained  faithful  to  the  government ;  most  of  the  settlers  at 
Isabella  preserved  at  least  a  nominal  allegiance  to  Don  Diego, 
and  a  considerable  body  of  the  best  soldiers  were  absent 
with  Don  Bartholomew  in  Xaragua.  But  what  Roldan  lacked 
in  numbers  he  made  up  in  resolution  and  daring.  Gather 
ing  together  several  hundred  natives,  to  act  as  bearers  and 
purveyors,  he  led  his  band  from  place  to  place,  beginning 
with  the  forts,  and,  when  refused  admittance  in  them,  striking 
into  the  open  Vega,  and  repeating  the  excesses  of  Margarite 
and  his  banditti. 

Don  Diego,  hampered  by  the  dread  of  offending  his 
Spanish  sovereigns  if  he,  a  foreigner,  employed  violent  means 
to  subdue  the  rebellion,  contented  himself  with  securing 
such  authority  as  remained  to  him  and  sending  couriers  to 
Don  Bartholomew.  The  latter  hastened  towards  Isabella, 
and  engaged  in  parleys  with  Roldan,  which  proved  fruitless. 
Threatening  him  with  an  assured  vengeance  in  the  near 
future,  the  Adelantado  turned  to  executing  the  Admiral's 
instructions  for  the  removal  of  the  colony  to  San  Domingo, 
and  to  the  construction  of  several  new  caravels  for  traffic 
along  the  coast.  The  arrival  of  Pedro  Coronel,  with  his  two 
ships  and  their  provisions,  in  February,  1498,  facilitated  the 
building  of  the  new  town,  and  the  extension  of  mining  and 

1  Las  Casas,  with  the  original  documents  before  him,  asserts  that 
Roldan  began  to  accumulate  a  store  of  arms,  trappings,  and  horseshoes 
as  soon  as  Columbus  had  sailed  from  Isabella  in  March,  '95. 

22 


338        THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

brazil-cutting,  while  it  confirmed  the  authority  of  the  Ad 
miral's  brothers  in  the  minds  of  those  who  had  not  joined 
Roldan.  Coronel,  whose  influence  was  of  weight  with  all 
the  earlier  settlers,  attempted  to  bring  Roldan  to  reason  ;  but 
the  latter  ridiculed  his  efforts  and  boasted  that,  if  CoronePs 
arrival  had  been  delayed  a  week,  an  end  would  have  been 
put  to  the  government  of  the  Admiral's  brothers,  if  not  to 
their  lives  as  well.  To  add  to  the  anarchy  Guarionex,  not 
unnaturally,  revolted  at  the  outrages  put  upon  himself  and 
his  people  by  Roldan,  and  failed  to  discriminate  between 
rebellious  and  loyal  Spaniards  in  his  revenge.  For  the 
safety  of  the  colonists  Don  Bartholomew  had  to  repress  this 
native  insurrection,  the  unlucky  cacique  fled  to  his  neighbor 
Mayobanex,  who  succored  him  at  his  own  peril,  and  the 
whole  central  region  of  the  island  was  again  thrown  into  a 
desolating  war. 

At  this  juncture,  the  three  vessels  which,  under  the  com 
mand  of  Carvajal,  Arana  and  Juan  Antonio  Columbus,  had 
sailed  direct  for  Hispaniola  from  the  Canaries,  arrived  off 
the  coast  of  the  island.  By  an  error  in  calculation  they  had 
sailed  some  300  miles  beyond  San  Domingo,  and  came  to 
anchor  in  that  part  of  the  country  where  Roldan  and  his 
band  happened  to  be.  The  rebel  chief,  simulating  contin 
ued  loyalty  to  the  Admiral,  sent  to  the  squadron  to  learn 
what  its  presence  betokened.  It  was  no  difficult  matter  for 
him,  in  view  of  his  known  rank  as  Chief  Justice,  to  deceive 
the  newcomers  into  landing  a  large  portion  of  their  forces  to 
march  overland  to  San  Domingo,  since  the  difficulty  of  sail 
ing  back  in  the  face  of  wind  and  currents  was  obvious  to 
all.  Once  the  party  was  landed,  it  was  still  easier  to  gain 
over  the  fresh  arrivals  with  promises  of  unlimited  plunder 
and  license,  and  the  three  captains  found  themselves  deserted 
by  a  great  part  of  the  emigrants  they  had  brought  from 
Spain.  Juan  Columbus  and  Arana  thereupon  set  sail  for 
San  Domingo  to  deliver  at  least  their  cargoes  to  Don  Bar 
tholomew,  while  Carvajal  remained  to  use  his  powers  of 
persuasion  and  diplomacy  in  convincing  Roldan  of  the 
perilous  folly  of  his  treason. 

Such  was  the  posture  of  affairs  when  the  Admiral  arrived. 


FROM  PARADISE    TO  INFERNO. 


339 


The  new  town  of  San  Domingo  was  founded  and  well 
advanced  ;  the  Adelantado  had  visited  the  western  districts 
and  discovered  them  to  be  fertile  and  productive ;  many 
new  mines  had  been  found  and  brazil-forests  located  in 
flattering  number;  of  promises  of  future  success  there 
was  no  lack.  But  insurrection  was  rife  among  the  natives  ; 
anarchy  reigned  among  the  colonists ;  Roldan's  revolt  was 
absolutely  unchecked;  no  tribute  was  arriving  from  the 
native  tribes;  and  Columbus  was  quick  to  realize  that  the 
disordered  condition  of  this  one  island  threatened  to  exert 
a  far  more  potent  influence  on  the  minds  of  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella  than  all  the  glory  of  his  new  discoveries. 

Not  even  the  enthusiastic  warmth  of  his  reception  by  the 
loyal  settlers  of  San  Domingo  could  lighten  the  despondency 
which  Don  Bartholomew's  recital  had  inspired.  Only  a  few 
days  ago  he  had,  perhaps,  been  on  the  very  outskirts  of 
Paradise.  That  he  was  now  at  the  portals  of  a  veritable 
Inferno  he  could  not  permit  himself  to  doubt. 


XVII. 

PRODIGAL   MAGNANIMITY. 

COLUMBUS  understood  the  characters  of  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella  far  more  accurately  than  can  his  modern 
biographers  ;  he  knew  that,  to  the  King,  the  Indies,  —  now 
that  the  first  glamour  of  their  discovery  was  gone,  —  were 
valuable  chiefly  as  a  possible  source  of  revenue  for  the 
prosecution  of  his  French  and  Italian  schemes ;  he  knew 
that,  to  the  Queen,  their  chief  interest  lay  in  the  vast  exten 
sion  which  their  acquisition  brought  to  the  prestige  of  her 
own  especial  Kingdom  of  Castile.  To  her  they  were  a  pet, 
a  fad ;  to  be  administered  in  accordance  with  her  own  per 
sonal  theories  and  convictions  :  to  her  consort  they  were  a 
magazine  of  gold  and  precious  commodities  unexpectedly 
placed  at  his  disposal,  and  unspeakably  helpful  in  the 
furtherance  of  his  ambitious  designs  in  Europe.  Knowing 
this,  Columbus  realized  the  treacherous  tenure  by  which  he 
held  the  royal  favor.  He  did  not  deceive  himself  by  imag 
ining  that  gratitude  played  a  permanent  part  in  his  sov 
ereigns'  calculations;  the  visit  of  Aguado  had  clarified  his 
perceptions  in  that  particular.  He  did  not  have  any  great 
confidence  that  the  glory  of  his  latest  achievements  would 
count  for  much  at  home,  although  he  exhausted  his  powers 
in  proving  their  value  to  King  and  Queen.  He  knew  that 
one  argument  only  —  treasure — would  satisfy  Ferdinand 
and  close  his  ears  to  the  intrigues  of  the  Admiral's  enemies ; 
and  that  one  charge  was  always  easy  of  acceptance  by  Isa 
bella, —  that  of  injustice  to  her  subjects.  He  found  him 
self  confronted  by  a  situation  which  involved  an  absolute 
340 


PRODIGAL   MAGNANIMITY.  341 

cessation  of  all  immediate  financial  returns,  as  surely  as  it 
implied  a  renewed  and  vociferous  appeal  to  the  Crown 
against  his  own  and  his  brothers'  administration  of  the 
colony.  He  could  picture  to  himself  the  eagerness  with 
which  Fonseca  and  the  old  cabal  would  assail  the  monarchs 
with  this  new  tale  of  disaster,  and  the  weight  their  asser 
tions  against  "  the  Genoese  "  would  have  in  the  absence  of 
any  golden  counterbalance  from  him.  He  knew  that  to 
them  he  was  a  parvenu,  an  adventurer  no  longer  fortunate, 
a  speculator  whose  plans  had  failed  egregiously.  In  his 
own  conscience  he  was  none  of  these,  but  he  was  not  to  be 
tried  before  himself.  Whatever  he  might  do,  it  would  be 
misrepresented,  and  how  could  he  avoid  the  use  of  violence 
if  Roldan's  defiant  outbreak  was  to  be  suppressed?  The 
dilemma  was  of  the  gravest ;  but  he  met  it  squarely.  The 
rebellion  must  be  ended  and  quiet  restored  in  the  island. 
If  this  could  be  done  without  bloodshed,  he  was  prepared 
to  compromise  temporarily  his  own  dignity.  The  true  state 
of  affairs  would  be  laid  before  the  King  and  Queen,  and  the 
future  left  with  them.  A  revenue  must  be  secured  pending 
the  reestablishment  of  order,  and  to  assist  in  this  Don 
Bartholomew  must  hasten  back  to  Paria  and  obtain  the 
largest  possible  quantity  of  pearls.  Finally,  the  Admiral, 
once  and  for  all,  must  be  relieved  of  this  harassing  office  of 
judging  the  Spaniards.  So  long  as  he,  a  foreigner,  was 
obliged  to  do  this,  just  so  long  would  his  authority  be  treated 
with  contempt. 

His  first  step  was  to  study  the  records  of  the  formal 
inquiry  which  Don  Bartholomew  had  instituted  as  to  the 
circumstances  of  Roldan's  rebellion.  His  next  was  to  re 
open  this  legal  process,  hear  anew  the  evidence  of  all 
competent  witnesses  and  review  all  pertinent  correspond 
ence.  To  him  the  result  was  so  conclusive  that  he  felt  con 
fident  the  sovereigns  would  be  satisfied,  even  in  spite  of  the 
intrigues  he  anticipated.  Roldan  had  sent  to  San  Domingo, 
in  expectation  of  the  Admiral's  return,  a  specious  letter 
endeavoring  to  excuse  his  disloyalty ;  but  this  Columbus 
treated  as  waste  paper.  The  facts  spoke  for  themselves 
and  admitted  of  no  palliation.  We  have  the  emphatic 
testimony  of  Las  Casas  in  support  of  this  position :  — 


342   THE  LAST  VOYAGES  OF  THE  ADMIRAL. 

"  I  have  seen  all  these  documents  and  known  many  of  the 
witnesses,  and  all  testified  that  they  had  never  heard  nor  seen 
that  the  Adelantado  [Don  Bartholomew]  had  done  or  offered 
any  injury  to  Roldan,  but  always  showed  him  much  honor  and 
consideration,  and  they  testified  the  same  concerning  the  others 
who  had  rebelled  with  him/' 

While  this  inquiry  was  in  progress,  Arana  and  Juan 
Antonio  Columbus  arrived  with  their  vessels  and  the  report 
of  Roldan's  treachery  towards  them,  and  a  few  days  later 
Carvajal  sailed  into  port  and  gave  an  account  of  his  unsuc 
cessful  attempt  to  dissuade  the  rebels  from  their  course. 
Notwithstanding  these  unfavorable  reports,  the  Admiral 
determined  to  try  persuasion  before  proceeding  to  extremes, 
and  he  derived  some  encouragement  from  the  fact  that  Rol- 
dan  had  broken  camp  and  followed  Carvajal  as  far  as  Bonao, 
only  eighty  miles  from  San  Domingo,  where  he  had  settled, 
as  if  to  place  himself  within  easy  communication  with  his 
old  master. 

With  his  own  reunited  fleet  of  six  vessels,  the  two  brought 
out  by  Coronel  earlier  in  the  year,  and  those  built  by  Don 
Bartholomew,  there  were  now  ten  or  a  dozen  ships  in  the 
harbor.  Those  of  the  Admiral  were  under  a  heavy  expense, 
being  merely  chartered  from  Juanoto  Berardi,  and  he  was 
desirous  of  sending  them  back  to  Spain  without  delay.  As 
a  first  measure  of  diplomacy,  he  therefore  announced  that 
all  of  the  old  settlers  who  wished  to  return  home  might  do 
so  by  these  vessels,  without  regard  to  the  terms  of  their 
enlistment  with  the  Crown.  This  at  once  knocked  away 
one  of  Roldan's  strongest  props,  for  he  had  made  much 
capital  out  of  the  assertion  that  the  Admiral  would  never 
return,  and  his  brothers  would  keep  the  Spaniards  in  sub 
jection  for  an  indefinite  period,  until  they  themselves  accum 
ulated  a  vast  treasure,  when  they,  too,  would  abandon  the 
colony  and  leave  their  victims  to  shift  for  themselves.  As 
the  news  spread  through  the  settled  portion  of  the  island, 
the  colonists  started  towards  San  Domingo  with  an  alacrity 
which  showed  that  they,  at  least,  had  had  enough  of  the 
Indies,  and  even  the  followers  of  Roldan  were  tempted  to 
join  the  homeward  exodus.  To  add  a  further  incentive  for 


PRODIGAL  MAGNANIMITY.  343 

these  men  to  throw  down  their  arms,  the  Admiral  directed 
Ballester,  his  trusty  commandant  at  Fort  Conception,  near 
Roldan's  camp,  to  confer  with  the  rebels,  offering  amnesty 
to  all,  and  inviting  their  chief  to  come  to  the  city  for  a  free 
discussion  of  all  differences.  To  this  overture  Roldan  replied 
with  contempt,  saying  that  he  held  the  Admiral  in  his  closed 
fist,  and  that  before  any  negotiation  could  take  place  the 
latter  must  deliver  to  him  all  the  Indian  captives  now  held 
at  San  Domingo,  for  he,  Roldan,  had  guaranteed  all  the 
natives  their  liberty  and  immunity  from  tribute.  He  also 
informed  Ballester  that  in  future  he  would  carry  on  no 
negotiations  with  any  emissary  from  the  Admiral  other  than 
Carvajal ;  and  with  this  defiant  response,  Ballester  had  to 
be  content. 

Roldan's  own  treatment  of  the  Indians  saves  us  the  neces 
sity  of  proving  that  his  concern  for  their  welfare  was  merely 
assumed ;  but  that  he  even  thought  it  worth  while  using  as 
a  pretext  indicates  that  opinion  in  the  colony  was  divided 
as  to  the  method  of  treating  them.  No  such  doubt  dis 
turbed  the  Admiral's  plans,  however,  for  as  soon  as  the 
ships  had  discharged  their  cargoes  and  been  refitted,  he 
sent  on  board  800  of  the  natives  captured  in  the  insurrec 
tion  of  Guarionex.  Of  these,  200  were  "paid"  to  the 
owners  of  the  vessels  as  compensation  for  the  carriage  of 
the  remainder  to  Spain.  With  them  was  shipped  such 
quantity  of  brazil-wood  as  had  been  cut,  and  a  not  imposing 
manifest  of  other  colonial  produce.  The  chartered  vessels 
were  allowed  but  thirty  lay-days  by  their  agreements,  and 
the  Admiral  was  anxious  to  get  them  away  before  the  ist  of 
October,  when  demurrage  would  begin  to  run ;  but  he  held 
them  some  time  longer  in  the  hope  of  accomplishing  some 
results  with  Roldan.  Meanwhile  two  other  caravels  had 
been  fitted  out  for  Don  Bartholomew's  voyage  of  exploration 
to  Paria,  and  these  also  were  held  in  port,  awaiting  develop 
ments. 

An  impression  had  been  made  upon  the  rebels,  despite  their 
air  of  contumacy ;  for  a  few  days  after  Ballester's  return,  on 
October  iyth,  Roldan  and  his  chief  lieutenants,  —  Adrian  de 
Moxica,  Pedro  de  Gomez,  and  Diego  de  Escobar, —  united 


344        THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

in  a  second  letter  to  the  Admiral,  laying  the  whole  blame  for 
their  defection  upon  Don  Bartholomew ;  claiming  that  their 
original  purpose  in  deserting  him  was  only  to  await  the  return 
of  the  Admiral,  when  they  would  submit  the  whole  issue  to 
him  for  decision ;  but  affirming  that,  in  view  of  what  they 
learned  as  to  the  Admiral's  fierce  anger  towards  them,  they 
were  afraid  to  place  themselves  in  his  power;  and  so 
they  begged  to  be  relieved  of  their  several  offices  and  salaries 
so  that  they  might  "with  due  regard  to  their  good  names  " 
live  as  they  pleased  and  be  no  longer  considered  servants  of 
the  Crown.  The  Admiral  was  quick  to  read  between  the 
lines  of  this  precious  production,  and  to  see  that  his  quondam 
servant  had  no  stomach  for  fighting.  Although  somewhat  sus 
picious  of  Carvajal's  loyalty,  on  account  of  Roldan's  expressed 
preference  for  that  officer,  he  decided  to  send  both  him 
and  Ballester  back  to  Bonao  with  a  response  so  conciliatory 
that,  in  rejecting  it,  Roldan  must  put  himself  in  open  rebellion 
against  the  royal  authority  as  delegated  to  the  Admiral.  The 
terms  of  this  letter,  which  was  written  on  the  2Oth  of  October, 
are  suavity  itself.  Addressing  his  "  Dear  friend,"  the  Admiral 
refers  to  "  certain  differences  "  which  had  been  reported  to 
him  on  arriving,  and  declares  that  although  he  "  should  see 
it  with  his  own  eyes  he  would  not  believe  that  you  [Roldan] 
would  work  for  your  own  destruction,  unless  it  be  in  something 
which  was  for  my  service."  Greater  differences  than  any 
which  could  now  exist,  he  adds,  can  be  easily  settled  "  when 
you  come  to  me  to  give  me,  with  a  willing  heart,  an  account 
of  your  office  as  all  have  done  whom  I  left  in  official  posi 
tions."  There  is  absolutely  no  ground  for  fear  of  his  dis 
pleasure,  or  need  for  any  safe  conduct,  for  as  soon  as  the 
writer  had  arrived  in  Hispaniola  he  had  declared  openly  that 
all  the  insurgents  might  come  to  him  with  impunity,  and  this 
he  affirms  afresh.  As  to  Roldan  and  his  people  going  to 
Spain,  the  ships  destined  for  the  voyage  had  already  been  held 
eighteen  days  beyond  their  sailing  time  for  this  very  purpose, 
and  they  would  be  held  still  longer  but  for  the  Indians  on 
board,  who  were  dying  off.  The  writer  then  makes  a  friendly 
appeal  to  Roldan  to  weigh  well  the  harm  he  is  doing  himself, 
particularly  in  the  estimation  of  the  King  and  Queen,  to 


PRODIGAL  MAGNANIMITY.  345 

whom  the  Admiral  had  so  especially  recommended  the  abili 
ties  and  fidelity  of  the  Chief  Justice  when  recently  at  the 
royal  Court,  "  for  I  gave  them  your  name  before  any  other 
when  they  asked  me  about  the  persons  out  here  in  whom  the 
Adelantado  could  have  confidence  and  trust,  and  so  exalted 
your  services  that  I  am  grieved  now  to  think  that  they  must 
hear  so  different  an  account  by  these  very  ships.  See 
promptly,"  the  Admiral  urges,  "what  can  be  done  or  what 
the  situation  calls  for,  and  let  me  know,  for  the  ships  have 
already  sailed."  This  missive  was  duly  delivered  to  Roldan 
by  Ballester  and  Carvajal,  and  the  latter  reinforced  it  by  so 
many  and  such  convincing  arguments  that  Roldan  and  his 
lieutenants  were  disposed  to  accept  the  Admiral's  offer,  and 
go  to  him  for  the  purpose  of  reaching  a  composition  of 
their  dispute.  But  the  rank  and  file  opposed  this,  especially 
the  deserters  from  the  three  caravels,  declaring  that  if  one 
went  all  must  go,  and  that  a  general  safe-conduct  in  writ 
ing  must  be  sent  them  by  the  Admiral  before  they  would 
place  themselves  in  his  power.  To  this  Roldan,  Moxica, 
and  their  colleagues  were  forced  to  assent,  assuring  the 
Admiral's  commissioners  that  as  soon  as  the  warranty  was 
received  they  would  all  proceed  at  once  to  San  Domingo, 
and  giving  them  a  letter  to  their  principal  stating  the  con 
ditions  upon  which  the  rebels  would  surrender.  Carvajal 
returned  with  this  to  the  city,  leaving  Ballester  in  his  fort  at 
Conception.  The  latter  wrote  to  his  commander  warmly 
eulogizing  Carvajal's  course  as  being  "  so  devoted  to  the 
service  of  God,  their  Majesties  and  your  Worship  that 
neither  Solomon  nor  any  other  Doctor  could  find  any  im 
provement  to  make  in  it."  He  also  urged  the  Admiral  to 
accept  the  proposals  made  by  Roldan,  distasteful  though  they 
were,  for  he  had  observed  many  of  the  commoner  sort  of 
colonists  passing  by  Conception  on  their  way  to  join  the 
rebels,  and  feared  that  in  time  the  Admiral  would  be  de 
serted  by  all  but  the  comparatively  small  number  of  men  of 
rank  and  personal  retainers  who  surrounded  him.  Colum 
bus  did  not  relish  this  counsel,  or  the  report  made  by 
Carvajal,  and  when  he  read  Roldan's  letter  his  anger  rose 
to  a  white  heat.  These  were  the  conditions  on  which  alone 


346        THE   LAST    VOYAGES  OF  THE  ADMIRAL. 

the  rebels  would  agree  to  a  conference  :  they  were  afraid 
Don  Bartholomew  would  violate  the  Admiral's  verbal  safe 
guard  and  do  them  harm,  and  therefore  "  since  there  is  no 
cure  for  anything  after  it  is  done,"  —  to  quote  Roldan's 
words,  —  they  demanded  that  the  Admiral  sign  the  passport 
for  Roldan  and  his  adjutants  which  they  enclosed ;  that  Don 
Bartholomew  should  solemnly  swear  to  Carvajal  and  certain 
other  cavaliers  to  respect  the  same  as  long  as  the  rebels 
were  in  San  Domingo  and  during  the  journey  there  and 
back,  and  that  this  oath  should  be  signed  by  Carvajal  and 
his  companions.  On  these  terms  and  these  only  would 
these  gentry  trust  the  Admiral  and  his  brother.  When 
Columbus  read  them,  he  vowed  to  bring  the  traitors  to  their 
senses  by  other  methods  than  those  of  negotiation,  and  he 
took  measures  looking  to  an  offensive  campaign.  But  when 
he  caused  a  private  count  to  be  made  of  the  force  upon  which 
he  could  depend  in  the  event  of  marching  against  the  outlaws, 
he  found  that  not  more  than  seventy  men  were  to  be  surely 
relied  on  under  all  circumstances.  Putting  the  best  face 
upon  the  matter  he,  accordingly,  on  the  26th  of  October, 
published  two  proclamations ;  one  guaranteeing  to  Roldan 
free  and  safe  passage  to  and  from  San  Domingo,  and  the 
other  offering  amnesty  to  all  of  the  rebels  and  passage  to 
Spain  for  such  as  deserved  it,  provided  they  reported  at  San 
Domingo  within  thirty  days.  Having  done  this,  he  could  do 
no  more  than  wait  for  the  result. 

When  Ballester  returned  from  his  first  fruitless  mission,  the 
Admiral,  disappointed  in  his  hopes  of  being  able  to  announce 
the  subjugation  of  the  rebellion,  gave  orders  for  the  home 
ward-bound  caravels,  five  in  number,  to  get  under  way  and 
make  all  possible  speed  for  Spain.  They  sailed  on  the  i8th 
of  October,  carrying,  besides  the  human  and  other  cargo 
before  mentioned,  a  large  number  of  returning  colonists. 
Many  of  these  were  at  heart  friendly  to  Roldan ;  some  of 
them,  no  doubt,  were  the  bearers  of  letters  from  him  and  his 
sympathizers  to  influential  personages  at  Court,  if  not  to  the 
Crown  direct.  To  counteract  these  representations  Colum 
bus  addressed  two  long  communications  to  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella,  one  relating  to  the  voyage  lately  ended,  and  the 


PRODIGAL   MAGNANIMITY.  347 

other  to  the  condition  of  the  island  as  he  found  it  upon  his 
arrival.  The  first  letter  we  have  already  quoted  from  exten 
sively,  as  well  as  from  the  journal  which  accompanied  it. 
The  Admiral  also  forwarded  with  it  the  map  he  had  made 
of  Trinidad  and  Paria,  showing  their  relation  to  the  islands 
of  the  earlier  discoveries  and  the  course  to  be  sailed  to  reach 
the  new  lands.  He  sent  also  the  trophies  of  his  cruise  along 
the  Parian  coasts,  —  golden  ornaments,  a  parcel  of  160  or  1 70 
pearls  ("  although  the  quantity  of  pearls  and  gold  be  small," 
he  wrote,  "  I  send  them  by  reason  of  their  quality,  since  until 
this  time  no  one  has  seen  pearls  come  out  of  the  West "),  and 
some  of  the  colored  cloths  which  the  natives  of  Paria  wore 
in  lieu  of  more  elaborate  toilettes.  In  the  same  letter  he 
reported  that  he  had  three  caravels  all  ready  for  Don  Bar 
tholomew  to  continue  the  exploration  of  Paria,  and  that  it 
was  his  intention  to  have  them  sail  on  the  same  day  as  the 
five  ships  bound  for  Spain,  and  spend  six  months  in  ascer 
taining  the  extent  of  the  new  continent ;  but  that  for  the 
moment  he  was  keeping  his  brother  at  his  side  until  this 
affair  of  Roldan's  was  settled.  The  Adelantado  was  a  man 
of  resources  and  an  accomplished  soldier,  and  in  the  event  of 
hostilities  his  presence  would  be  essential. 

In  the  second  letter  he  dwelt  upon  Roldan's  rebellion  and 
the  irreparable  damage  it  had  caused  the  royal  interests  in  the 
Indies.  This  fellow,  he  stated,  had  set  at  naught  the  author 
ity  of  Crown  and  Viceroy,  and  thrown  the  whole  western  part 
of  the  island  into  confusion.  Moving  from  place  to  place, 
he  robbed  the  Indians,  violated  their  houses,  kidnapped 
their  wives  and  daughters,  impressed  into  his  service  as  many 
natives  as  he  wanted,  and  treated  with  brutal  cruelty  those 
who  hesitated  to  follow  him.  Other  iniquities  were  perpe 
trated  which  affronted  the  Admiral  more  than  they  shall  our 
selves  ;  these  outlaws  never  confessed,  ate  meat  on  Saturdays, 
and  totally  neglected  the  offices  of  the  Church.  The  country, 
he  complains,  is  the  best  in  the  world  for  vagabonds,  and 
such  most  of  the  colonists  were  becoming  under  the  example 
set  by  Roldan.  He  does  not  look  for  rhuch  improvement 
until  some  worthy  priests  shall  come  out  "  rather  to  reform 
the  faith  of  the  Christians  than  to  implant  it  in  the  Indians," 


348        THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

and  until  he  has  been  reinforced  by  new  settlers,  "  of  which 
50  or  60  should  come  out  with  every  fleet,  while  I  send  back 
as  many  of  the  vicious  and  idle,  as  I  am  now  doing."  He 
declares  frankly  that  he  hardly  dares  to  enforce  the  needful 
discipline,  because  "  as  a  poor  foreigner  I  am  hated,  charged 
with  mistakes  in  settling  the  country,  in  my  treatment  of  the 
people,  and  in  numberless  other  things."  He  entreats  his 
sovereigns,  and  repeats  the  entreaty  several  times,  to  send  out 
"  some  learned  man,  a  person  experienced  in  administering 
justice,"  so  that  he  might  have  the  warrant  of  a  Castilian 
court  in  proceeding  against  Castilian  subjects.  Relating  his 
abortive  negotiations  with  Roldan,  he  says  the  latter  flatly 
rejected  the  proffered  pardon,  claiming  he  had  done  nothing 
requiring  forgiveness,  and  that  in  any  event  the  Admiral  was 
a  partial  judge,  since  the  quarrel  was  between  his  own  brother 
and  Roldan.  The  Admiral  therefore  intended  to  propose  to 
the  rebel  leader  that  each  side  should  present  its  case  directly 
to  the  Crown ;  the  Admiral  through  Ballester  and  Carvajal, 
and  Roldan  through  such  envoys  as  he  might  elect ;  that,  while 
these  commissioners  were  in  Spain  arguing  the  question,  the 
rebels  should  return  to  their  allegiance  and  all  continue  as 
originally ;  but  if  they  did  not  feel  safe  in  doing  this,  that 
they  should  pass  over  to  Porto  Rico  and  there  await -the 
royal  decision.  By  doing  this  he  hoped  to  free  Hispaniola 
from  the  curse  of  their  misdeeds.  In  closing  this  recital,  he 
uses  the  phrase  which  in  the  estimation  of  Las  Casas  cost 
him  the  government  of  the  New  World.  "  If  these  Justices,'* 
he  writes,  referring  to  Roldan  and  recreant  colleagues,  "  do 
not  come  to  an  agreement  with  me,  I  am  going  to  do  my 
utmost  to  destroy  them."  Admiral  and  Viceroy  though  he 
was,  he  was  a  foreigner ;  rebels  and  bandits  though  they  had 
become,  they  were  Castilians,  free  subjects  of  the  jealous 
King  and  Queen  whom  he  was  addressing. 

Turning  to  the  burning  question  of  revenue,  the  Admiral 
inveighs  bitterly  against  those  who  had  impeded  for  so  long 
his  departure  from  Spain  :  — 

"  May  God  pardon  those  at  the  Court  and  in  Seville,"'  he 
writes,  "who  were  the  cause  of  delaying  so  long  my  despatch, 
because  if  I  had  come  here  in  time,  —  as  I  could  easily  have 


PRODIGAL  MAGNANIMITY.  349 

done  within  a  year  and  even  sooner,  —  the  Indians  would  not 
have  revolted  and  refused  to  pay  the  tributes  they  used  to  pay. 
I  always  said  that  it  would  be  necessary  to  follow  them  up  for 
three  or  four  years,  until  they  should  be  well  accustomed  to  this, 
for  we  ought  to  suppose  that  they  would  otherwise  learn  their 
own  strength." 

He  avers  that  he  will  devote  himself  to  reestablishing 
the  former  order  of  things,  and  that  meantime  real  progress 
had  been  made  by  the  colony  as  a  whole ;  for  the  Span 
iards  had  learned  to  live  on  the  native  foods ;  their  cattle, 
sheep,  swine,  and  fowls  were  increasing  rapidly  in  number ; 
their  life  was  far  less  burdensome  than  at  first ;  and,  when 
labor  should  be  more  plentiful,  great  results  were  assured 
from  cultivating  the  soil.  He  points  out  that  Roldan's  fol 
lowing,  which  with  his  native  servants  numbered  sometimes 
1000  men,  had  no  difficulty  in  sustaining  themselves  ;  whence 
he  argues  in  favor  of  allotting  to  each  colonist  the  laborers 
necessary  to  till  his  portion  of  land. 

"  I  beg  your  Majesties,1'  he  adds  farther  on,  "  to  allow  these 
people  to  be  utilized  for  a  year  or  two  now,  until  the  colony  is 
firmly  established,  for  it  is  already  well  under  way.  You  may 
see  that  all  the  seafaring  folk  and  most  of  the  landsmen  are 
satisfied,  and  only  lately  two  or  three  of  the  ship-masters  who 
sailed  announced  that  they  would  take  to  Seville  as  many  slaves 
as  any  one  desired  who  would  pay  1500  maravedies  for  the  pas 
sage  of  each,  to  be  deducted  from  the  product  of  the  sale.  I 
accepted  the  offer  for  all  and  undertook  to  give  them  a  cargo, 
for  thus  the  vessels  will  return  and  bring  supplies  and  other 
things  which  are  necessary  here,  and  so  the  business  of  the 
colony  will  advance.  At  present  it  is  in  a  very  bad  way,  for 
the  colonists  will  not  work,  nor  the  Indians  pay  any  tribute,  by 
reason  of  what  has  occurred,  and  of  my  absence .  The  Adelantado 
has  not  been  able  to  accomplish  more  than  he  has  done,  for  he 
had  no  one  near  him  in  whom  he  could  trust ;  all  complained 
and  cursed  the  enterprise,  saying  that  they  had  been  out  here 
five  years  and  had  not  enough  even  to  buy  a  shirt.  But  now  I 
have  revived  their  energies,  and  what  I  say  to  them  seems  to  be 
reasonable :  that  they  shall  all  be  soon  paid  and  receive  their 
pay  regularly  in  the  future.11 

In  making  this  suggestion,  the  Admiral  was  adopting  a 
measure  which  Don  Bartholomew  had  initiated  to  offset  the 


350        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL, 

attractions  held  out  to  the  colonists  by  the  rebels.  The  idle 
life  of  easy  license  led  by  the  latter  was  contrasted  by  the 
loyal  settlers  with  their  own  hard  lot,  and  to  pacify  these 
the  Adelantado  had  granted  to  them  as  many  Indians,  from 
among  the  captives  or  from  those  who  refused  tribute,  as 
each  Spaniard  required  to  cultivate  his  land,  or  do  his  work. 
In  asking  the  King  and  Queen  to  sanction  this  arrangement 
for  a  season,  Columbus  intended  no  more  than  to  continue 
an  arrangement  the  abrupt  cessation  of  which  would  revive 
discontent ;  but  in  his  allusion  to  the  offer  of  the  ship 
master  he  was  referring  to  a  slave-trade  pure  and  simple. 
The  pay  due  the  colonists  by  the  Crown  was  sadly  in  arrears  ; 
the  colonists  were  aware  that  the  island  produced  no  reve 
nue,  while  the  Admiral  knew  that  there  were  no  other  means 
available  either  in  Spain  or  Hispaniola  for  the  payment.  To 
retain  the  majority  of  Spaniards  in  their  allegiance  without 
compensation,  when  Roldan  was  offering  them  their  share 
of  Xaragua  for  nothing,  was  out  of  the  question.  The  only 
solution  of  the  financial  difficulty  was  the  one  so  common 
among  the  Portuguese  in  Africa,  —  to  send  slaves  back  and 
obtain  funds  from  their  sale  with  which  to  maintain  the 
colony  for  the  nonce.  The  proposal  was  naturally  accepta 
ble  to  the  colonists,  for  they  all  knew  that  slaves  on  board 
ship  were  as  good  as  money  in  hand ;  hence  the  readiness 
with  which  they  accepted  the  plan.  The  Admiral  had  his 
own  reasons  for  believing  it  would  not  be  rejected  by  the 
King  and  Queen.  The  comparative  ease  with  which  this 
financial  problem  was  solved  was  probably  the  cause  of  the 
ampler  scheme  he  proceeded  to  unfold  to  his  sovereigns. 
Perhaps,  after  all,  a  revenue  might  be  found  immediately, 
without  waiting  for  the  restoration  of  the  tribute  or  the 
gathering  of  gold  and  pearls.  If  so,  he  knew  that  Ferdi 
nand  at  least  would  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  the  calumnies  of  those 
who  sought  the  Admiral's  overthrow.  If  600  slaves  had 
been  so  readily  sent  to  Spain,  why  not  more,  gathered  from 
the  insurgent  tribes,  the  cannibals  and  the  districts  which 
were  contumacious  in  the  matter  of  revenue?  The  idea 
was  as  old  as  Commerce  itself;  it  was  peculiarly  familiar  to 
Spanish  minds,  and  that  it  possessed  no  horror  either  to 


PRODIGAL   MAGNANIMITY. 


351 


Columbus  or  his  royal  patrons  is  evidenced  by  the  excessive 
bluntness  with  which  he  advocated  it. 

•'  From  here  may  be  sent,"  he  wrote,  "  with  the  sanction  of 
the  Holy  Trinity,1  as  many  slaves  and  as  much  brazil-wood  as 
can  be  sold.  Of  these  slaves,  if  what  I  have  heard  is  correct, 
they  tell  me  4000  can  be  disposed  of,  which  at  a  low  valuation 
will  amount  to  20,000,000  maravedies ;  and  4000  hundredweight 
of  brazil  will  amount  to  as  much  more,  the  cost  of  which  here 
will  be  6,000,000  maravedies.  Thus,  at  first  sight,  40,000,000 
maravedies  would  be  secured,  if  this  should  issue  as  stated. 
The  argument  which  they  use  in  support  of  it  certainly  seems 
sound,  because  in  Castile,  Portugal,  Aragon,  Italy,  Sicily,  the 
Portuguese  and  Aragonese  Islands  and  the  Canaries  many  slaves 
are  employed,  and  I  believe  that  already  from  Guinea  not  so 
many  are  coming  as  formerly.  Even  if  they  should  come,  one 
Indian  is  worth  three  negroes,  as  any  one  may  see.  When  I 
was  lately  at  the  Cape  de  Verd  Islands,  where  the  people  have  a 
large  traffic  in  slaves  and  are  constantly  sending  ships  to  procure 
them,  —  for  they  are  at  the  very  door,  —  I  observed  that  8000 
maravedies  was  asked  for  the  poorest  specimens.  For  the  brazil 
wood,  they  say  that  in  Castile,  Aragon,  Venice,  Genoa,  France, 
Flanders,  and  England  there  is  a  great  demand ;  so  that  from 
these  two  sources,  according  to  my  informants,  these  40,000,000 
maravedies  can  be  obtained,  unless  vessels  should  be  lacking  for 
the  trade,  and  these  will  not  fail  I  am  sure,  under  Our  Lord's 
blessing,  once  they  find  the  voyage  to  be  profitable." 

To  make  the  proposition  unmistakably  business-like,  the 
Admiral  adds,  "  Even  if  some  of  the  slaves  die  at  first  it  will 
not  be  always  thus,  for  so  used  the  negroes  and  the  Canary 
Islanders  at  the  beginning ;  and  these  Indians  offer  still  a 
greater  advantage  over  them,  since  one  who  survives  will 
not  be  sold  by  his  owner  for  the  first  price  that  is  offered." 
Who  the  "informants"  were  who  advocated  this  cold 
blooded  traffic  with  the  Admiral  it  is  idle  to  inquire.  He 
never  shrank  from  the  consequences  of  his  convictions.  In 
making  this  proposal  to  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  he  was 
reasonably  sure  of  its  reception,  knowing  that  to  them,  as  to 
him  and  the  rest  of  Europe,  the  slaves  would  be  dealt  with 

The  seeming  blasphemy  is  a  conventional  phrase.  To  this  day 
one  Portuguese  thief  will  say  to  another,  "  I'll  join  you  in  that  job  to 
night,  if  God  pleases." 


352        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE   ADMIRAL. 

as  merchandise,  as  much  as  brazil-wood,  —  precisely  as  he 
coupled  them  in  his  letter.  We  have  already  remarked  that 
the  little  flicker  of  much  belauded  "  humanity  "  shown  by 
Isabella  anent  the  enslaved  Indians  was  due  to  her  anger  at 
a  presumed  invasion  of  her  jealously  guarded  prerogatives 
as  sovereign  of  Castile.  It  was  satisfied  with  the  return  of 
just  nineteen  natives  to  Hispaniola,  out  of  a  total  of  several 
thousands  scattered  through  the  fields  and  galleys  of  Spain 
and  Portugal.  We  have  quoted  the  Admiral's  own  words  in 
our  desire  to  show  our  readers  the  man  as  he  was.  Those 
who  care  to  objurgate  him  as  a  "  slave  driver"  will  find  it  a 
safer  and  more  agreeable  —  if  less  logical  and  consistent  — 
task  than  would  be  a  like  criticism  of  those  of  their  own 
neighbors  who  have  bought  and  sold  their  darker  brethren 
in  other  times  and  seasons. 

Columbus  was  far  more  concerned  in  the  effect  his  failure 
to  make  a  sufficient  remittance  to  the  royal  treasury  would 
have,  than  in  any  possibility  of  disagreement  between  his 
sovereigns  and  himself  as  to  the  form  thereof.  With  the 
memory  of  his  late  experience  with  Fonseca  and  Bribiesca 
fresh  in  his  mind,  he  sought  to  forestall  the  embarrassments 
which  he  felt  sure  they  would  continue  to  create. 

"  I  entreat  your  Majesties,11  was  his  closing  adjuration,  u  to 
order  that  the  persons  who  have  charge  of  this  undertaking  in 
Seville  be  not  hostile  to  it  and  do  not  obstruct  it ;  because  it 
would  have  been  yet  more  prosperous  if  my  fortune  had  pro 
cured  that  some  one  who  was  well  disposed  toward  it  had  been 
in  charge  ;  or  at  least  that  the  person  in  authority  had  not  been 
opposed  to  it  and  sought  to  ruin  and  defame  it,  encouraging 
those  who  were  inimical  and  setting  himself  against  those  who 
were  favorable,  for,  as  we  constantly  see,  a  good  reputation, 
next  to  God,  is  what  makes  things  successful." 

Fonseca,  to  whom  all  the  Admiral's  correspondence  sooner 
or  later  found  its  way,  must  have  smiled  significantly  in  his 
chair  at  Seville  as  he  read  this  appeal  from  the  far-off  Indies. 

The  departure  of  the  five  ships  bearing,  as  he  knew,  the 
Admiral's  version  of  his  rebellion,  brought  Roldan  to  a  real 
izing  sense  of  the  risk  he  was  running.  Upon  receiving  the 
safe-conducts  brought  by  Ballester  and  Carvajal,  he  set  out 


PRODIGAL  MAGNANIMITY.  353 

with  some  of  his  companions,  sometime  in  November,  for 
San  Domingo  and  presented  himself  before   the  Admiral. 
There  is  no  record  of  the  circumstances  of  the  interview, 
beyond  the  notice  that  it  took  place  in  the  presence  of  many 
witnesses.     Roldan  formulated   his  demands,  the  Admiral 
stated  what  he  could  and  what  he  could  not  concede,  and 
Roldan   returned   to   Bonao   to   lay  the    result   before    his 
companions,   accompanied    by   the    Admiral's    majordomo, 
Diego  de  Salamanca.     The  latter  returned   in  a  few  days 
with  the  rebels'  ultimatum,  couched  in  such  arrogant  terms 
that    its    acceptance    was    impossible.     Carvajal  was  again 
called  in  as  negotiator  and  sent  to  Bonao  with  a  new  sched 
ule  of  conditions,  which  the  Admiral  declared  he  would  sign 
if  Roldan  would  abide  by  them.     Carvajal  found  the  rebels 
actually  besieging  the  worthy  Ballester  in  Fort  Conception 
and    on   the    point    of   compelling    its   surrender.     At   his 
approach  they  suspended  operations  and  withdrew  to  dis 
cuss  his  propositions.     The  outcome  of  it  all  was,  that  Rol 
dan  agreed  to  the  Admiral's  main  condition,  which  was  that 
they  should  leave  Hispaniola  and  return  to  Spain,  but  added 
certain  demands ;  that  two  vessels,  fully  equipped  and  sup 
plied,  should  be  sent  around  to  Xaragua  for  their  voyage ; 
that  each  man  should   be  allowed   to  carry  with  him  the 
women  of  his  harem  and  one  male  slave  ;  and  that  to  Roldan 
and  each  of  his  fellows  should  be  given  a  certificate  of  good 
service,  full  arrears  of  back-pay,  and  all  the  property  they 
claimed  to  be  theirs.     When  this  was  brought  to  the  Admiral, 
for  the  sake  of  seeing  himself  free  of  this  incubus,  and  devot 
ing  himself  to  the  improvement  of  the  colony,  he  accepted 
it  subject  to  a  proviso  :    that  the  embarkation  should  take 
place  within  fifty  days ;  that  Roldan  should  permit  no  more 
Spaniards  to  join  his  band  ;  that  no  kidnapped  Indian  should 
be  taken  to  Spain  against  his  will ;  and  that  all  the  property 
belonging  to  the   Crown  should  be   delivered   over  to  the 
Admiral's  representative  on  the  arrival  of  the  two  caravels 
at  Xaragua.     For  some  reason  of  his  own  it  suited  Roldan 
to  accept  the  revised  agreement,  and  he  signed  it  on  the 
i  yth  of  November ;  sending  back  to  the  Admiral  the  insolent 
message,  that  if  the  latter  did  not  sign  it  so  that  Roldan  had 

23 


354        THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF  THE  ADMIRAL. 

it  back  within  ten  days,  he  would  add  as  many  men  to  his 
band  as  sought  him.  In  less  than  the  time  mentioned  the 
agreement  was  in  Roldan's  hands,  duly  signed  and  sealed, 
and  the  rebels  took  up  their  march  for  Xaragua,  saying  they 
were  going  to  prepare  for  their  voyage. 

Such  was  the  Admiral's  haste  to  get  rid  of  these  turbulent 
outlaws,  that  he  took  two  of  the  vessels  destined  for  Don 
Bartholomew's  exploration  of  Paria  and  ordered  them  to  be 
made  ready  for  the  passage  to  Spain.  They  were  not  com 
pleted  until  early  in  January,  1499 ;  but  the  moment  they 
could  sail  with  safety  the  Admiral  despatched  them  for 
Xaragua,  sending  Carvajal  to  arrange  for  the  prompt  depart 
ure  of  the  rebels.  To  provide  for  a  possible  contingency, 
Carvajal  carried  a  special  proclamation  in  which  the  Admiral 
agreed  that  such  of  Roldan's  men  as  preferred  to  remain  in 
Hispaniola  would  be  allowed  the  same  holdings  of  land  and 
emoluments  as  other  colonists.  But  ill  fortune  pursued  every 
step  of  this  wearisome  affair.  One  of  the  caravels  was  so 
damaged  in  a  storm  encountered  soon  after  leaving  San 
Domingo  that  she  had  to  be  beached  in  the  nearest  harbor, 
where  she  and  her  consort  were  delayed  until  the  end  of 
March.  When  they  finally  reached  Xaragua,  Roldan  coolly 
declared  that  as  they  were  not  ready  for  him  within  the  fifty 
stipulated  days  the  whole  agreement  was  annulled,  as  it  was 
obvious  that  the  Admiral  had  intentionally  held  them  back 
with  the  purpose  of  finding  an  excuse  for  revenging  himself 
on  the  rebels.  In  despair  Carvajal  called  upon  Francisco 
de  Garay,  who  had  accompanied  him  as  notary,  to  make  a 
formal  acta  of  his  demand  upon  Roldan  for  a  compliance 
with  the  agreement,  and  his  refusal,  and  this  he  sent  back  to 
the  Admiral  with  a  report  of  all  that  had  occurred. 

Columbus  had  left  San  Domingo,  as  soon  as  the  caravels 
had  sailed  out  of  the  port,  and  gone  to  Isabella,  intending 
to  make  a  visit  to  all  the  Spanish  settlements  and  to  confer 
with  the  native  caciques  on  his  way,  hoping  to  reestablish 
order  among  the  colonists  and  confidence  among  the  In 
dians.  He  had  met  with  such  measure  of  success  as  to 
satisfy  him  that,  in  the  absence  of  any  fresh  disturbing  inci 
dents,  the  island  would  speedily  become  what  he  so  ardently 


PRODIGAL  MAGNANIMITY.  355 

desired,  —  a  source  of  permanent  and  progressive  revenue. 
The  news  of  Roldan's  last  outbreak  shattered  these  flattering 
expectations,  and  the  Admiral  hastened  back  to  San  Domingo. 
From  there  he  addressed  a  letter  to  Roldan  and  his  chief 
lieutenant,  Adrian  de  Moxica,  couched  in  amicable  terms, 
pointing  out  the  danger  of  their  course,  its  utter  futility,  and 
the  benefits  which  would  accrue  to  them  by  abandoning  it. 
To  this,  in  due  course,  Roldan  replied  ironically,  thanking 
the  Admiral  for  his  good  counsel,  but  averring  that  he  had 
no  use  for  it.  Carvajal,  however,  succeeded  in  persuading 
him  to  so  far  moderate  his  arrogance  as  to  return  to  the  first 
understanding,  —  to  remit  the  whole  matter  to  the  Crown 
for  settlement,  each  side  sending  commissioners  to  Spain  to 
argue  its  case.  Carvajal  promised  that  a  single  caravel 
should  be  furnished  for  this  purpose,  but  Roldan  refused  to 
accept  anything  but  the  Admiral's  official  pledge  ;  whereupon 
Carvajal  set  out  for  San  Domingo,  followed  by  Roldan,  who 
sought  a  private  interview  with  him  on  the  way  and  insisted 
that  he  desired  to  meet  the  Admiral  and  arrange  the  whole 
matter,  but  was  prevented  by  his  colleagues.  The  two  ves 
sels  were  ordered  back  from  Xaragua  to  San  Domingo  by 
Carvajal. 

Six  months  had  been  worse  than  squandered  in  these 
frivolous  disputes.  It  is  entirely  probable  that  Roldan  was 
constrained  by  his  associates  to  continue  a  quarrel  of  which 
he  was  personally  heartily  weary.  They  dared  not  trust 
him,  though  he  was  willing  to  trust  the  Admiral.  The  latter 
was  bent  on  shedding  no  Castilian  blood  except  in  the  very 
last  extremity.  He  knew  it  would  never  be  forgiven  him  by 
Ferdinand  or  Isabella,  whatever  the  justification.  It  was 
nothing  new  for  him  to  be  patient,  but  never  was  his  patience 
more  grievously  tried.  When  Carvajal  returned,  the  Ad 
miral  approved  his  latest  offer,  wrote  out  a  new  safe-conduct 
for  Roldan  and  his  associates,  and  even  accepted  the  indig 
nity  of  permitting  Carvajal,  Coronel,  and  other  of  his  cap 
tains  to  endorse  it  with  their  personal  guarantee,  as  the  rebels 
demanded.  A  meeting  was  arranged  for  on  board  a  caravel 
anchored  in  the  Bay  of  Azua,  some  80  or  100  miles  west  of 
San  Domingo.  Thither  the  Admiral  repaired,  accompanied 


356        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

by  many  of  his  stanchest  friends,  and,  on  August  22nd, 
Roldan  and  his  fellow-conspirators  came  on  board  for  the 
conference.  It  is  not  necessary  to  rehearse  the  charges  and 
counter-charges,  the  proposals  and  amendments  which  were 
debated.  The  upshot  was,  that  it  was  agreed  that  the  two 
caravels  should  sail  for  Spain  with  not  more  than  fifteen  of 
the  rebels ;  that  all  should  be  done  for  the  band  that  the 
former  arrangement  provided ;  that  those  who  remained 
should  be  allotted  lands  and  laborers ;  and  that  the  Admiral 
should  publicly  restore  Roldan  as  Chief  Justice,  and  proclaim 
that  he  was  a  faithful  officer  who  had  been  misled  by  design 
ing  persons.  When  Roldan  went  ashore  and  reported  this 
adjustment  to  his  followers,  they  flatly  refused  to  sanction  it. 
After  a  couple  of  days'  deliberation  they  sent  on  board  their 
conditions,  which  included  all  that  the  Admiral  had  agreed 
to  and  certain  other  extravagant  concessions,  of  which  the 
last  was  the  worst :  that  the  Admiral  must  consent  that,  in 
the  event  of  his  failing  to  carry  out  the  terms  of  the  agree 
ment  to  their  entire  satisfaction,  they  were  to  have  the  legal 
right  to  band  together  and  compel  him  by  force,  by  any  means 
in  their  power  and  discretion,  to  fulfil  the  bargain  as  they 
interpreted  it ! 

The  Admiral  accepted  the  whole  shameful  demand,  stipu 
lating  only  that  if  the  rebels  ever  again  failed  in  their  alle 
giance  his  compact  with  them  was  to  be  void,  and  they  were  to 
be  liable  for  all  their  past  offences  as  well  as  any  more  recent 
ones.  Las  Casas  infers  that  at  some  stage  of  the  long  con 
test,  —  which  had  been  dragged  on  now  for  a  year,  —  a  ves 
sel  had  arrived  from  Spain  bringing  replies  to  the  letters 
sent  by  the  five  vessels  which  sailed  in  October,  '98,  and 
that  among  these  was  a  communication  from  Fonseca  urg 
ing  the  Admiral  to  take  no  extreme  measures  until  the  King 
and  Queen  could  determine  what  was  best  to  be  done.  The 
Admiral  himself,  in  the  report  he  made  to  the  sovereigns, 
does  not  refer  to  this.  He  recites  instead  the  vast  harm 
already  done  to  the  interests  of  the  Crown  in  the  Indies 
by  the  prevalent  anarchy  ;  the  general  demoralization  of  the 
colonists  ;  the  formation  of  at  least  two  other  bands  of  free 
booters  who  purposed  imitating  in  the  eastern  districts  of 


PRODIGAL   MAGNANIMITY.  357 

the  island  the  excesses  committed  by  Roldan  in  the  west ; 
the  indefinite  cessation  of  all  revenue  ;  and  the  utter  destruc 
tion  of  all  prospects  of  a  further  extension  of  the  Crown's 
authority  in  other  islands,  and  on  the  lately  found  Terra 
Firma.  These  were  the  motives  which  led  him,  forced  as 
he  was  to  forego  the  infliction  of  a  righteous  and  sufficient 
punishment,  to  prefer  his  own  humiliation  to  a  continuance 
of  a  situation  so  disastrous  to  the  interests  committed  to 
him. 

"Thus,11  he  wrote,  "in  order  to  avoid  this  evil,  hoping  that 
their  Majesties  would  provide  a  remedy  for  all  that  was  done 
and  that  whoever  should  read  that  agreement  would  clearly  see 
that  neither  its  spirit  nor  its  contents  were  reasonable,  but  that 
it  is  against  all  the  dictates  of  justice  and  utterly  beyond  that 
quality,  and  that  it  was  signed  and  promulgated  under  compul 
sion,  I  had  to  execute  both  it  and  the  other  one  making  the 
appointment  of  Chief  Justice.  Concerning  the  latter,  after  the 
first  settlement  was  agreed  to  and  signed,  Roldan  and  all  his 
people  broke  out  afresh  because  he  was  not  willing  that  any  one 
superior  to  him  should  be  recognized  in  the  contract ;  all  of 
them  shouting  loudly  that  they  would  hang  all  my  followers  who 
were  on  shore  if  they  did  not  go  on  board  at  once ;  wherefore  I 
was  obliged  to  sign  the  other  undertaking  as  they  required,  for 
the  time  and  reasons  already  given.11 

Apart  from  the  indignity  placed  upon  and  borne  by  him, 
the  Admiral  had  reason  to  be  content  with  the  result  of  his 
abnegation,  viewing  it,  as  he  did,  as  a  merely  temporary 
sacrifice.  Roldan  and  his  party  came  into  San  Domingo 
and  busied  themselves  with  vaunting  their  exploits  and 
swaggering  to  their  hearts'  content.  The  colonists  in  general 
were  inclined  to  look  upon  them  as  heroes  and  the  Admiral's 
authority  suffered  in  consequence ;  but  Roldan  himself  saw 
that  his  interest  lay  in  gaining  as  far  as  he  might  the 
Admiral's  forgiveness,  and  seems  to  have  exerted  his  influ 
ence  in  the  direction  of  peace  and  harmony.  The  adjust 
ment  of  all  disputes,  and  the  various  concessions  granted  the 
ex-rebels,  were  publicly  proclaimed  on  September  28th,  and 
the  two  caravels  were  duly  despatched  to  Spain  with  the 
respective  versions  of  the  negotiations  and  settlement. 


358        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

This  done,  the  Admiral  was  about  to  turn  again  to  the 
restoration  of  order  in  the  concerns  of  his  long  distracted 
government,  preparatory  to  returning  himself  to  Spain  to 
confer  with  their  Majesties,  when  he  was  confronted  with 
an  emergency  in  the  last  direction  from  which  one  could 
have  been  expected.  Word  was  brought  to  San  Domingo 
that  Alonzo  de  Hojeda,  with  three  caravels,  was  at  anchor 
in  the  port  of  Yaquimo,  300  miles  west  of  the  city,  busily 
occupied  in  cutting  and  loading  a  cargo  of  brazil-wood. 


XVIII. 

THE   FAITH    OF    PRINCES. 

THE  five  vessels  despatched  from  San  Domingo  on  Oc 
tober  1 8th,  1498,  arrived  at  Seville  about  Christmas. 
The  voyage  had  been  a  difficult  and  disastrous  one,  and  many 
of  the  Indian  slaves  had  died  on  the  passage  and  been  thrown 
to  the  sharks.  Those  who  survived  seem  to  have  been  sold 
in  regular  course,  and  their  product  covered  into  the  royal 
treasury.  Neither  Ferdinand  nor  Isabella  thought  it  neces 
sary  to  interfere  in  their  fate,  arguing,  no  doubt,  that  if  the 
victims  did  but  know,  they  were  better  off  in  Christian  bond 
age  than  in  heathen  liberty.  But  there  was  one  matter  which 
riveted  their  attention,  even  to  the  exclusion  of  any  adequate 
consideration  of  the  Admiral's  new  discoveries,  and  that  was 
the  rebellion  of  Roldan.  Little  as  they  appear  to  have 
heeded  the  Admiral's  speculations  concerning  Paradise,  the 
King  and  Queen  paid  jealous  heed  to  his  report  of  the  insur 
rection,  as  they  doubtless  did  to  the  excuses  offered  by  the 
rebels.  Whether  they  really  acknowledged  the  force  of  the 
complaint  made  by  Columbus,  —  that  his  hands  were  tied 
as  to  an  efficient  administration  of  justice,  —  or  whether  they 
merely  used  his  appeal  for  a  coadjutor  as  a  cloak,  is  left  in 
doubt  by  succeeding  events.  The  evidence  is  in  favor  of 
their  sincerity,  at  least  at  the  outset.  Whatever  their  motive, 
they  acted  with  unusual  promptness,  for  on  the  2ist  of  March, 
1499,  they  issued  a  commission  to  Francisco  de  Bobadilla 
directing  him  to  proceed  at  once  to  Hispaniola,  investigate 
the  outbreak,  and  chastise  the  guilty.  Both  the  choice  of  their 
delegate  and  the  tenor  of  his  original  instructions  indicate  a 

359 


360        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

disposition  to  render  aid  to  the  Admiral.  Bobadilla  was  a 
Court  official  of  some  distinction,  with  nothing  in  his  past 
record  to  justify  doubt  as  to  the  wisdom  of  his  appointment. 
The  commission  itself  was  couched  in  terms  significant  of  an 
emphatic  determination  to  uphold  Columbus  in  his  authority. 

"  Know  ye,"  the  document  ran,  "  that  Don  Christopher  Colum 
bus,  our  Admiral  of  the  Ocean  Sea  and  of  the  islands  and  con 
tinent  in  the  Indies,  has  sent  to  us  a  report  saying  that  while  he 
was  absent  from  the  said  islands  and  at  our  Court  certain  per 
sons  in  them,  including  a  Justice,  rose  in  rebellion  in  the  said 
islands  against  the  said  Admiral  and  the  other  Justices  he  had 
appointed  there  in  our  name ;  and  that  although  such  persons 
and  the  said  Justice  were  warned  not  to  enter  into  the  said  rebel 
lion  and  uproar,  they  were  not  willing  to  abandon  it,  but  rather 
persisted  and  still  continue  in  the  said  rebellion,  roaming  through 
that  island,  committing  robberies  and  doing  other  iniquities, 
damages,  and  violences  in  contempt  of  their  duty  to  God  and 
to  ourselves.  .  .  .  Wherefore  we  command  you  that  you  set 
out  immediately  for  the  said  islands  and  continent  in  the  Indies 
and  hold  your  inquiry,  seeking  to  learn  by  whatever  methods 
and  in  whatever  quarters  may  seem  best  the  truth  of  all  the 
above,  informing  yourself  who  and  what  persons  they  were  who 
rebelled  against  the  said  Admiral,  and  for  what  cause  or  pretext, 
and  what  robberies,  outrages,  or  damages  they  have  perpetrated, 
and  all  else  which  may  seem  to  you  necessary  to  fully  acquaint 
you  with  the  matter.  Having  obtained  this  information  and 
being  possessed  of  the  truth,  you  shall  seize  the  persons  and 
sequester  the  property  of  those  whom  you  may  find  guilty, 
and  shall  proceed  against  those  you  have  secured,  as  well  as 
against  such  as  are  at  large,  with  the  extreme  penalties,  both  civil 
and  criminal,  which  you  find  permissible  by  law." 

Had  Bobadilla  been  sent  out  promptly  with  these  powers, 
and  discharged  his  office  with  common  discretion,  the  revolt 
in  the  island  would  have  been  stamped  out,  and  the  colony 
spared  many  years  of  confusion  and  strife.  Before  he  was 
ready  to  leave  Spain,  a  radical  change  took  place  in  the 
attitude  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  towards  Columbus,  the 
consequences  of  which  overwhelmed  the  latter  with  ruin 
and  degradation. 

Las  Casas  attributes  this  withdrawal  of  the  royal  favor 
primarily  to  the  enmity  of  Fonseca  for  the  Admiral  "  which," 


THE  FAITH  OF  PRINCES.  361 

he  remarks,  "was  almost  notorious,  and  the  evidences  of 
which  I  saw  with  my  eyes,  heard  with  my  ears,  and  under 
stood  with  my  mind."  Certainly  the  record  supports  the 
assertion.  As  soon  as  the  Admiral's  report  and  map  reached 
his  hands,  Fonseca  laid  them  before  Hojeda,  who  had  left 
Hispaniola  for  Spain  some  time  before  and  bore  a  grudge 
against  the  Admiral,  the  cause  of  which  is  not  known. 
What  were  the  especial  ties  between  these  two  men  is  also 
matter  for  conjecture,  but  there  is  no  question  as  to  their 
common  hostility  to  Columbus.  With  the  latter's  charts 
and  letters  before  him,  illustrated  by  his  own  experiences 
among  the  islands,  Hojeda  saw  the  opportunity  of  his  life. 
In  flagrant  disregard  of  the  exclusive  and  repeatedly  con 
firmed  concessions  made  to  the  Admiral,  Fonseca  issued  a 
license  to  Hojeda  to  make  a  voyage  of  discovery  and  trade 
to  the  Indies,  excepting  from  its  provisions  only  the  coun 
tries  claimed  by  Portugal  in  the  remote  East  and  the  lands 
discovered  by  Columbus  prior  to  1495.  The  employment 
of  this  date  shows  conclusively  that  the  deliberate  purpose 
of  the  license  was  to  allow  Hojeda  to  reap  the  advantages  of 
the  Admiral's  discoveries  of  Paria  and  the  pearl  region. 
Hojeda  had  no  difficulty  in  obtaining  four  caravels  and  the 
necessary  companions,  among  whom  were  Juan  de  la  Cosa, 
the  former  pilot  of  Columbus,  and  Americus  Vespucci.  He 
made  his  preparations  with  such  activity  that  he  was  able 
to  sail  from  Cadiz  on  the  2oth  of  May,  steering  the  course 
laid  down  in  the  Admiral's  charts.  Striking  the  coast  of 
South  America,  300  miles  below  the  mouth  of  the  Orinoco, 
he  followed  it  to  the  north  and  west,  passed  through  the 
Mouths  of  the  Serpent  and  Dragon,  touched  at  Margarita 
and  continued  along  Terra  Firma  as  far  as  the  Gulf  of  Mara- 
caibo.  Thence  he  bore  away  for  Hispaniola,  where  he 
arrived,  as  Columbus  was  informed,  on  the  5th  of  Septem 
ber.  As  though  to  emphasize  his  determination  to  trample 
on  all  the  solemn  engagements  made  by  the  Crown  with  the 
Admiral,  Fonseca  issued  several  other  licenses  for  voyages 
similar  to  that  undertaken  by  Hojeda.  We  have  the  record 
of  at  least  five  of  these.  A  wealthy  merchant  of  Seville, 
Guerra  by  name,  secured  one  of  the  permits  and  sent  out  a 


362        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

vessel  commanded  by  his  brother  and  navigated  by  Pedro 
Alonzo  Nino,  that  other  pilot  of  the  Admiral's  who  had 
accompanied  him  at  the  time  of  the  discovery  of  Paria  and 
had  returned  with  the  five  ships.  Armed  with  copies  of 
his  charts  these  worthies  set  sail  in  June ;  pursued  the 
course  laid  down  but  bearing  more  to  the  south ;  struck  the 
new  continent  still  nearer  the  Equator  than  Hojeda ;  con 
tinued  on  past  Paria  and  Margarita,  and  finally  reached  a 
point  on  the  coast  of  the  modern  Venezuela  at  or  near  La 
Guayra.  Thence  they  returned  to  Spain  "loaded  with 
pearls  as  though  they  had  been  straw,"  according  to  Peter 
Martyr.  In  December,  yet  another  of  the  Admiral's  former 
companions,  and  one  of  the  most  notable,  Vincente  Yanez 
Pinzon,  taking  with  him  three  of  the  skilled  mariners  who 
had  sailed  with  Columbus  when  he  discovered  Paria,  set  out 
on  a  similar  voyage.  Following  closely  the  Admiral's  track, 
but  adopting  his  hint  as  to  crossing  the  Equator  well  to  the 
east,  Pinzon  made  the  coast  of  the  modern  Brazil  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Cape  St.  Augustine,  pursued  his  way  north 
ward,  discovering  the  Amazon  River  in  passing,  touched  at 
Paria,  kept  on  to  the  west  along  Terra  Firma  for  several 
hundred  miles,  and,  finally,  returned  to  Spain  by  way  of 
Hispaniola.  It  does  not  consist  with  the  scope  of  our 
narrative  to  carry  this  record  further.  Diego  de  Lepe,  with 
the  Admiral's  ex-pilot,  Bartholomew  Roldan,  and  Rodrigo 
de  Bastidas,  with  Juan  de  la  Cosa  again,  undertook,  the  fol 
lowing  year,  to  emulate  the  exploits  of  their  predecessors, 
and,  following  the  now  well-worn  path,  pushed  on  past  the 
farthest  cape  theretofore  reached,  and  attained  the  vicinity 
of  Darien  before  putting  about  for  Spain. 

All  these  expeditions,  without  exception,  were  based  on 
the  Admiral's  charts  interpreted  by  pilots  or  seamen  who 
had  sailed  with  him.  All  of  them  paid  him  that  homage  of 
flattery  which  is  alleged  to  lie  in  a  servile  imitation.  All 
of  them  were  legitimate,  in  so  far  that  they  were  authorized 
by  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  or  by  their  agent  Fonseca ;  and 
all  of  them  were  directed  solely  and  purely  to  commercial 
ends.  Gold,  pearls,  brazil-wood,  and  slaves,  slaves,  slaves ; 
these  were  the  openly  avowed  objects  of  each  of  the  voyages 


THE  FAITH   OF  PRINCES.  363 

recited,  including  that  in  which  Americus  Vespucci  so  easily 
gained,  with  some,  a  reputation  for  intrepid  enterprise  and 
philosophical  absorption  in  the  mysteries  of  Nature.  The 
King  and  Queen  found  no  difficulty  in  accepting  their  share 
of  each  class  of  the  proceeds  brought  from  the  coasts  their 
Admiral  had  found.  Although  the  slaves  were,  in  these 
cases,  the  product  of  rank  kidnapping,  they  were  sold  for 
the  benefit  of  whom  it  might  concern  without  let  or  hin 
drance.  When  their  Catholic  Majesties  had  cause  to  suppose 
that  anything  was  withheld  from  entry,  they  proceeded  against 
the  returned  adventurer  with  a  viciousness  worthy  of  Shylock. 
By  some  occult  process  of  reasoning,  they  satisfied  their 
consciences  that  there  was  a  difference  between  the  natives 
of  Paria  and  those  of  Hispaniola,  and  that  the  former  might 
be  legitimately  abducted  by  Hojeda,  Pinzon,  and  Vespucci, 
while  a  great  to-do  must  be  made  about  the  latter.  Having 
broken  faith  with  Columbus  like  Turks,  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella  pocketed  their  share  of  the  plunder  which  resulted 
with  as  little  scruple  as  Buccaneers. 

Such  were  the  immediate  consequences  of  the  Admiral's 
announcement  of  his  finding  of  the  "great  land"  under  the 
Equator,  and  such  the  recompense  prepared  for  him  during 
the  weary  months  in  which  he  was  submitting  to  one  indignity 
after  another,  each  more  galling  than  that  preceding  it,  in 
his  devotion  to  what  he  believed  to  be  the  wishes  of  his 
sovereigns.  Far  more  ingenious  pens  than  ours  have  exerted 
their  skill  in  endeavoring  to  explain  away  the  apparent  faith 
lessness  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  or,  at  least,  to  exculpate 
the  Queen.  That  they  have  failed  is  due  to  no  want  of 
earnestness,  but  to  the  inherent  hopelessness  of  the  effort. 
No  possible  sophistry  can  be  found  to  cloak  the  naked 
injustice,  and  where  neither  King  nor  Queen  attempted  a 
defence  it  is  superfluous  for  us  to  concoct  one.  Greed  and 
jealousy  were  the  genuine  motives,  ugly  though  the  terms 
look  when  applied  to  characters  otherwise  great.  The  grants 
made  to  Columbus,  and  so  solemnly  ratified  to  his  descend 
ants,  were  perpetual,  and  subject  to  no  conditions  save  the 
finding  of  land  beyond  the  mysterious  Ocean  Sea.  His 
reports  of  his  latest  discoveries,  supported  by  the  arguments 


364   THE  LAST  VOYAGES  OF  THE  ADMIRAL 

he  employed  to  establish  their  far-reaching  importance, 
opened  the  eyes  of  the  most  skeptical  as  to  the  probable 
range  of  his  achievements.  In  his  entanglement  with  his 
colonists,  and  the  hue  and  cry  raised  against  him,  the  sov 
ereigns  found  the  opportunity  for  ignoring  his  rights  without 
any  great  danger  of  having  to  face  a  reckoning,  and  they 
acted  as  their  interests  dictated.  They  were  neither  better 
nor  worse  than  the  spirit  of  their  times,  and  were  they  not 
the  inheritors  of  Divine  Right?  It  was  not  the  first  time,  or 
the  last,  that  in  a  partnership  with  the  Crown  the  subject 
was  left  with  its  autograph  and  seals  as  his  share  of  the 
profits.  The  privilege  of  petition  and  expostulation  was 
always  his  —  and  much  good  might  it  do  him. 

The  nullification  of  their  engagements  with  Columbus  con 
cerning  the  navigation  and  commerce  of  the  western  seas 
was  not  the  only  blow  aimed  at  him  by  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella  in  the  spring  of  1499.  Two  months  after  their 
appointment  of  Bobadilla  as  special  commissioner  to  assist 
the  Admiral  in  the  restoration  of  order,  they  issued,  on  the 
2ist  of  May,  two  new  decrees  which  deprived  the  latter  of 
every  vestige  of  authority  and  prerogative.  The  first,  ad 
dressed  to  all  the  officers  and  subjects  of  the  Crown  in  the 
Indies,  directed  them  to  receive  Bobadilla  as  Governor  and 
Supreme  Judge  of  the  Islands  and  Terra  Firma,  and  con 
ferred  upon  him  the  exclusive  government  of  those  regions. 
The  second,  addressed  to  the  Admiral,  his  brothers,  and  his 
lieutenants  in  charge  of  the  forts,  vessels,  and  other  royal 
property,  ordered  them  to  deliver  the  same  over  to  Bobadilla 
as  Governor,  dispensed  with  the  formalities  usually  attendant 
upon  a  change  of  administration,  and  established  the  penalty 
for  treason  in  the  event  of  any  hesitation  or  delay  being 
shown.  The  only  explanation  vouchsafed  by  the  sovereigns 
to  the  man  who  held  their  beautifully  engrossed  parchments, 
constituting  him  and  his  heirs  Perpetual  Governors  of  the 
Indies  and  Admirals  of  the  Ocean  Sea,  was  embraced  in 
these  lines  :  — 

"  The  King  and  Queen  to  Don  Christopher  Columbus,  Our 
Admiral  of  the  Ocean  Sea :  We  have  commanded  Don  Fran 
cisco  de  Bobadilla,  the  bearer  of  this,  to  say  to  you  on  our 


THE   FAITH  OF  PRINCES.  365 

behalf  certain  things  which  he  will  communicate.  We  ask  you 
to  give  him  faith  and  credence  and  to  put  the  same  into  execu 
tion.  At  Madrid,  the  26th  of  May,  1499.  I,  the  King.  I,  the 
Queen." 

The  powers  conferred  upon  Bobadilla  were  specifically 
"for  as  long  as  it  shall  be  our  wish  and  pleasure,"  and  this 
may  be  interpreted  as  intimating  that  they  were  only  pro 
visional.  At  the  same  time,  the  tenor  and  summary  nature 
of  his  installation  point  to  some  sudden  and  deeply  rooted 
distrust  of  Columbus.  In  default  of  any  sufficient  elucida 
tion  by  the  records  of  the  period,  various  causes  have  been 
suggested  for  this  abrupt  accession  of  royal  displeasure.  By 
some  historians  it  is  attributed  to  the  charges  made  (or 
supposed  to  have  been  made)  by  Roldan's  partisans,  that 
Columbus  was  plotting  the  betrayal  of  the  Indies  to  a  rival 
power.  Others  have  held  that  the  charge  was  that  he  and 
his  brothers  were  conspiring  to  seize  the  government  of  the 
New  World  for  their  own  advantage.  Yet  others,  following 
the  lead  of  Las  Casas,  ascribe  the  Admiral's  downfall  to  the 
irresistible  vehemence  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella's  righteous 
indignation  when  they  read  the  propositions  made  by  Colum 
bus  for  the  shipment  of  slaves  to  Europe.  None  of  these 
hypotheses  are  supported  by  a  jot  of  evidence,  and  the  last 
one  is  disproved  by  the  conduct  of  the  King  and'  Queen 
before,  at,  and  long  after  the  time  of  Bobadilla's  nomination 
as  governor.1  What  took  place  between  March  and  May, 
to  convert  their  intention  of  aiding  Columbus  into  a  purpose 
to  supplant  him,  must  remain  matter  for  conjecture  until 

1  Take,  for  example,  this  extract  from  the  contract  between  Bastidas 
and  the  Crown,  signed  June  5,  1500  :  "Also,  that  of  all  the  gold,  silver, 
copper,  lead,  tin,  quicksilver,  or  other  metal,  and  all  the  mother-of- 
pearl,  pearls,  precious  stones  and  jewels,  and  all  the  slaves,  —  both  black 
and  bright-skinned,  —  who  in  our  kingdoms  are  held  and  reputed  to 
be  slaves,  and  all  the  monsters,  serpents,  and  other  wild  beasts,  and  all 
the  fish,  birds,  spices,  drugs,  and  everything  else,  whatever  be  its  name, 
nature,  or  value,  ive  shall  have  the  one-fourth  part  of  all  that  remains 
after  deducting  the  cost  of  equipping,  chartering,  and  maintaining  the 
squadron  and  the  other  expenses  of  the  voyage."  And  yet  Columbus 
is  the  "  slave  driver,"  and  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  are  applauded  for 
their  repugnance  to  his  proposals. 


366        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  AD  AURAL. 

additional  light  is  obtained ;  but  we  are  disposed  to  find  the 
explanation  in  the  persistent  assaults  made  upon  Columbus 
by  Roldan's  sympathizers  at  Court,  abetted  by  Fonseca's 
influence  and  that  of  the  old  Boil-Margarite  cabal,  and  coin 
ciding  with  the  sovereigns'  determination  to  repudiate  their 
compact  with  the  Admiral  as  soon  as  they  ascertained  the 
enormous  import  of  his  latest  discovery.  Having  originally 
commissioned  Bobadilla  in  response  to  the  Admiral's  own 
appeal  for  a  judicial  colleague,  they  found  in  the  charges 
made  against  him  a  pretext  for  depriving  him  of  all  authority 
when  they  decided  to  violate  his  other  privileges.  As  vice 
roy  and  governor  of  the  new-found  lands  he  might  possibly 
be  capable  of  some  resistance  ;  as  a  cashiered  officer  of  the 
Crown  he  was  harmless.  Whatever  explanation  we  may 
adopt,  we  must  not  lose  sight  of  one  fact ;  both  the  license 
granted  to  Hojeda  and  his  successors,  and  the  appointment 
of  Bobadilla  to  displace  Columbus,  were  acts  of  arrogant 
bad  faith.  By  each  a  solemnly  ratified  covenant  was  broken, 
after  the  stipulated  consideration  had  been  far  more  than 
fulfilled  by  Columbus.  These  two  acts  were  coincident  in 
time  and  in  scope,  and  where  the  perfidy  was  so  cynically 
overt  it  seems  to  be  a  waste  of  time  to  look  for  concealed 
motives  which  may  be  forced  into  consistency  with  justice. 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella  concluded  they  could  now  dispense 
with  Columbus,  and  they  made  no  scruple  about  violating 
their  pledges  to  do  so. 

There  is  no  notice  of  any  vessel  arriving  in  Spain  from  San 
Domingo  between  the  five  which  reached  Cadiz  at  Christ 
mas,  1498,  and  the  two  which  arrived  also  about  Christ 
mas,  in  1499,  bearing  the  representatives  sent  by  the 
Admiral  and  the  rebels  to  plead  their  respective  causes 
before  the  throne.  The  delay  in  Bobadilla' s  departure  for 
his  new  government  does  not  seem,  therefore,  to  be  due  to 
any  doubt  as  to  the  propriety  of  their  action  on  the  part  of 
the  King  and  Queen.  The  conjecture  advanced  by  Las 
Casas,  that  the  sovereigns  were  preoccupied  with  the  threat 
ening  condition  of  affairs  among  the  recently  conquered 
Moors  of  Granada,  will  scarcely  account  for  the  detention 
of  Bobadilla,  for  the  famous  rising  in  the  Alpuxarras  did 


THE  FAITH  OF  PRINCES.  367 

not  occur  until  the  following  year.  It  seems  to  us  more 
probable  that  the  Crown,  having  provided  for  the  Admiral's 
removal,  waited  to  hear  the  result  of  Roldan's  insurrection 
before  sending  out  Bobadilla.  In  other  words,  it  was 
possible  that  Roldan  might  save  the  Crown  the  necessity  of 
deposing  Columbus.  The  theory  that  Ferdinand  and  Isa 
bella  suspended  all  active  proceedings  in  the  matter,  hoping 
to  receive  satisfactory  explanations  from  the  Admiral,  is 
disproved  by  the  fact  that  their  final  action  in  the  premises 
was  taken  after  they  had  such  a  justification  in  their  hands. 
The  real  solution  in  the  enigma  probably  lies  in  the  exag 
gerated  importance  we  attach  to  the  part  which  the  affairs 
of  Hispaniola  played  in  Spanish  politics  at  that  juncture. 
Ferdinand  was  deeply  absorbed  in  the  intricate  tangle  of 
European  statecraft,  and  his  consort  was  no  less  busily  occu 
pied  with  the  establishment  of  the  Inquisition.  The  larger 
interests  of  the  Crown  in  the  Indies  were  provided  for  by 
the  virtual  cancellation  of  the  Admiral's  privileges:  the 
less  important  affairs  of  the  colony  in  Hispaniola  could  be 
safely  left  for  the  time  being.  Of  revenue  there  was  little 
prospect  for  the  moment,  whether  Viceroy  or  outlaw  were 
victorious,  and,  apart  from  this,  the  disturbances  among  a 
few  hundred  subjects  in  a  remote  island  did  not  call  for 
instant  attention  to  the  exclusion  of  more  important  ques 
tions  lying  nearer  home.  Whatever  the  reason,  from  the 
date  of  his  commission  in  May  to  the  arrival  of  the  two 
ships  in  December,  Bobadilla  remained  quietly  in  Spain, 
Governor  of  the  Indies  in  name  alone. 

Once  these  vessels  were  in  port,  there  could  be  no  pre 
tence  that  the  situation  in  Hispaniola  was  not  fully  compre 
hended  at  Court.  The  Admiral  was  represented  by  Balles- 
ter,  Barrantes,  and  Carvajal,  —  than  whom  no  one  was  more 
familiar  with  all  that  had  passed, —  while  Roldan  had  his 
appointed  emissaries  besides  the  detachment  of  his  followers 
who  were  returned  to  Spain  under  the  terms  of  the  capitula 
tion.  The  case  alleged  by  the  latter  against  the  Admiral 
was,  naturally,  the  most  vehemently  expressed  and  generally 
accepted.  He  and  his  brothers,  they  charged,  were  guilty 
of  countless  cruel  and  tyrannical  acts  against  their  Castil- 


368        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

ian  colonists;  for  any  light  offence  they  would  hang  the 
Spaniards,  behead  them,  flog  them,  cut  off  their  hands, 
shedding  Spanish  blood  as  though  they  were  mortal  enemies 
to  Castile.  Moreover  they  were  traitors  to  the  King  and 
Queen,  who  contemplated  seizing  the  government  of  the 
Indies  and  erecting  there  an  empire  of  their  own,  for  which 
purpose  they  had  forbidden  the  extraction  of  any  gold  except 
under  their  own  licenses,  so  that  they  might  accumulate  all 
the  treasure  for  their  own  nefarious  ends.  If  anything,  the 
accusations  brought  against  Don  Bartholomew  and  Don 
Diego  were  more  intemperate  than  those  against  the 
Admiral;  the  first  named,  especially,  being  described  as  a 
monster  in  human  shape  whose  one  delight  was  to  perse 
cute  and  torment  the  loyal  subjects  of  Castile.  To  these 
personal  accusations  were  added  pessimistic  accounts  of  the 
climate  and  natural  resources  of  the  islands,  and  heart 
breaking  recitals  of  the  sufferings  endured  by  the  colonists 
through  the  cold-blooded  avarice  and  studied  maladminis 
tration  of  Columbus  and  his  brothers.  The  new  arrivals 
joined  those  who  had  returned  home  on  the  five  ships  of 
the  year  before  in  clamoring  for  the  pay  they  had  *never 
earned,  whenever  they  could  get  within  earshot  of  King  or 
Queen,  and  in  reviling  noisily  the  name  of  Columbus  when 
his  sons  passed  by.  Like  any  other  foul-mouthed  and  ill- 
conditioned  rabble  in  seasons  of  discontent,  they  hung 
around  Palace  and  Government  buildings,  alternately  plead 
ing  and  cursing  in  their  efforts  to  be  heard.  How  much  of 
all  this  was  theatrical  display  we  cannot  know;  that  it  was 
fostered,  if  not  incited,  by  the  Admiral's  enemies  there  is 
no  doubt.  That  Ferdinand's  otherwise  not  unduly  tender 
sensibilities  should  have  been  profoundly  affected  by  the 
exhibition  of  his  faithful  vassals'  distress,  and  his  quick 
sense  of  justice  impressed  by  their  obvious  sufferings  in  his 
cause,  is  a  very  pretty  story  which  lacks  only  the  element 
of  truth  to  make  it  interesting.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  his 
sensibilities  were  as  adjustable  to  the  circumstance  of  the 
moment  as  was  his  justice,  and  if  he  allowed  the  opinion 
to  get  abroad  that  he  was  moved,  it  was  because  it  suited 
his  purpose.  The  cause  of  Columbus  was  prejudged,  and 


THE  FAITH  OF  PRINCES.  369 

the  needy  adventurers  who  posed  as  his  "victims"  might 
have  spared  themselves  the  labor  of  vituperation  for  all  the 
effect  it  had  upon  Ferdinand's  decision. 

The  Admiral,  on  his  side,  submitted  his  report  of  the 
rebellion  and  its  causes,  substantiating  his  assertions  by  the 
oral  statements  of  the  loyal  and  reputable  officers  whom  he 
sent  to  represent  him.  He  begged  their  Majesties  to  exam 
ine  carefully  the  records  of  the  official  investigations  which 
he  forwarded,  and  to  inquire  themselves  into  their  truth 
from  the  many  witnesses  who  had  gone  to  Spain.  After 
describing  the  constraint  under  which  he  acted  in  signing 
the  capitulation  with  Roldan,  he  sets  forth  nine  reasons  why 
he  should  be  held  by  their  Majesties  to  be  absolved  from 
its  obligations,  and  entreats  them  to  declare  the  agreement 
to  be  without  effect  on  account  of  the  circumstances  by 
which  it  was  extorted.  Some  of  the  reasons  alleged  are 
forcible  and  well  taken;  others  are  frivolous  and  savor 
strongly  of  chicane.  Taken  together  and  read  with  refer 
ence  to  the  time  of  their  production,  they  illustrate  graphi 
cally  the  mental  attitude  of  Columbus  towards  the  difficult 
questions  which  surrounded  him.  The  capitulation  should 
be  annulled,  he  claims,  (ist)  because  he  was  compelled  by 
force  to  sign  what  the  rebels  dictated,  not  what  he  deemed 
proper;  (2nd)  because  he  signed  as  Viceroy,  whereas, 
being  on  a  caravel  and  at  sea,  he  only  had  jurisdiction  as 
Admiral;  (3rd)  because,  under  the  trial  held  by  Don  Bar 
tholomew,  Roldan  and  his  followers  were  convicted  traitors, 
and  neither  as  Admiral  nor  Viceroy  could  Columbus  relieve 
a  sentence  of  treason;  (4th)  because  the  capitulation  re 
lated,  inter  alia,  to  interest  of  the  Royal  Treasury,  and  in 
the  absence  of  the  proper  Crown  officials  no  engagement 
affecting  it  was  binding;  (sth)  because  passage  to  Spain 
was  granted  to  all,  and  those  of  the  rebels  who  were  serv 
ing  out  in  Hispaniola  sentences  for  crimes  committed  in 
Spain  should  have  been  excepted;  (6th)  because  payment 
was  promised  to  all  for  the  whole  period  of  their  residence, 
including  the  time  they  were  in  insurrection;  whereas  the 
same  contract  obliged  them  to  make  good  all  losses  and 
damages  caused  by  the  rebellion,  and  this  the  Admiral  had 

24 


370        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

no  right  to  remit;  (yth)  because  they  were  equally  liable 
for  the  losses  occasioned  to  the  Crown  through  the  deser 
tion  of  the  forty  men  seduced  from  the  ships  of  Arana  and 
his  colleagues;  (8th)  because  Roldan  failed  to  furnish  the 
list  of  those  who  had  inaugurated  the  rebellion  with  him 
and  the  reasons  they  alleged,  as  he  was  bound  to  do,  in  order 
to  secure  their  pardon;  (9th)  because  although  Roldan  and 
all  the  other  rebels  who  had  come  out  in  the  armada  of  '93 
had  sworn  by  crucifix  and  Mass  before  the  Admiral  and  the 
Bishop  of  Badajoz  (Fonseca)  to  be  true  and  loyal  vassals- of 
the  King  and  Queen,  and  to  guard  their  royal  estate  and 
dignity,  all  of  which  oaths  were  recorded  in  the  books  of 
the  Comptroller,  they  had  rebelled  against  the  authority  of 
the  Crown  and  committed  enormous  depredations  upon  its 
property. 

The  first  and  the  last  reasons  were  good  and  sufficient 
for  the  King  and  Queen  to  disavow  the  act  of  their  Viceroy 
and  order  the  rebels  to  be  chastised  as  they  merited.  The 
other  seven  are  cast  too  much  in  the  mould  of  the  fif 
teenth  century  to  be  openly  admitted  as  valid  by  the  nine 
teenth, —  although  our  Equity  calendars  would  not  be  so 
long  if  we  lived  up  to  our  professions  in  this  respect.  But 
whether  forcible  or  feeble,  Columbus  might  have  spared 
his  arguments.  It  was  already  written  that  nothing  he 
could  say  or  do  would  turn  his  sovereigns  from  their 
elected  course. 

As  if  foreseeing  the  futility  of  his  appeals,  he  took  advan 
tage  of  the  occasion  to  lay  before  the  King  and  Queen  a 
memorial,  in  which  he  recounted  the  history  of  his  enter 
prise  from  the  time  he  first  laid  it  before  them  down  to  the 
hour  of  his  writing.  It  is  needless  to  transcribe  the  greater 
part  of  it,  for  its  contents  are  a  repetition  of  what  he  had 
written  elsewhere;  but  he  is  entitled  to  be  heard  in  his  own 
defence  when  he  answers  the  allegations  of  Roldan 's  par 
tisans.  It  has  so  recently  been  charged,  in  the  interests  of 
Historical  Criticism,  that  he  studiously  concealed  from  his 
sovereigns  all  the  difficulties  he  had  encountered,  with  the 
one  exception  of  his  failure  to  secure  a  revenue,  that  our 
readers  may  be  willing  to  know  what  he  really  did  say. 


THE  FAITH  OF  PRINCES.  371 

They  never  will  learn  it  from  some  whose  words  will  carry 
far  more  weight  than  our  own. 

After  reviewing  the  events  following  the  foundation  of 
Isabella,  the  revolt  of  Boil  and  Margarite,  and  the  more 
recent  rebellion  of  Roldan,  he  refers  to  the  benefits  he  had 
showered  upon  that  "obscure  ingrate,"  and  the  wealth 
which  both  Roldan  and  his  partisans  had  accumulated. 
The  loyal  and  industrious  among  the  colonists,  he  affirms, 
now  that  they  were  acclimated,  were  beginning  to  reap  the 
rewards  of  their  labors  through  the  abounding  fertility  of 
the  soil.  The  idle  and  dissolute, — 

"  when  they  saw  that  their  expectations  would  not  be  realized, 
as  they  had  imagined,  were  ever  afterwards  possessed  of  the 
desire  to  return  to  Spain.  I  so  arranged  that  some  should  go 
with  every  squadron  and,  to  my  sorrow,  although  they  had 
received  from  me  all  consideration  and  proper  treatment,  as 
soon  as  they  arrived  there  they  said  worse  things  of  me  than  of 
a  Moor,  without  giving  any  facts  but  raising  against  me  a  thou 
sand  false  witnesses,  and  this  has  continued  until  the  present 
day.  .  .  . 

"  They  have  alleged  over  there,11  he  continues,  "  that  I  have 
located  the  settlement  at  the  worst  site  on  the  island,  whereas 
it  is  the  very  best  and  so  proclaimed  by  all  the  Indians  of  His- 
paniola.  Many  of  those  who  make  the  charge  have  never 
gone  a  gun-shot  beyond  the  palisades  of  the  town,  and  I  know 
not  what  trust  can  be  placed  in  them.  They  said  they  used  to 
die  of  thirst,  when  a  river  flows  by  the  town  not  so  far  as  from 
Santa  Martha  in  Seville  to  the  river  there.  They  said  that  th6 
place  is  the  most  unhealthy  of  all,  when  it  is  the  healthiest; 
although  the  whole  country  is  the  most  wholesome  under 
heaven  and  possesses  the  best  water  and  climate,  —  as  it  should, 
—  lying  in  the  same  latitude  as  the  Canaries,  .  .  .  which  have 
always  been  extolled  by  philosophers  for  the  mildness  of  their 
climate.  .  .  .  They  said  there  were  no  provisions,  and  there  is 
such  a  plenty  of  meat,  bread,  and  fish  that  on  arriving  here  the 
very  peasants  who  have  been  brought  out  as  laborers  prefer  not 
to  take  the  Crown  wages  but  to  support  themselves  and  the 
Indians  who  work  for  them.  This  is  proved  also  by  this  Roldan 
himself  who,  more  than  a  year  ago,  started  off  into  the  interior 
with  1 20  men,  who  took  with  them  over  500  Indians  to  serve 
them,  all  of  whom  have  been  sustained  with  great  abundance. 
They  said  that  I  appropriated  the  live-stock  of  people  who  had 


372        THE  LAST    VOYAGES    OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

brought  it  here,  and  I  took  nothing  but  8  pigs  from  among  a 
great  many.  This  I  did  because  they  belonged  to  men  who 
were  returning  to  Spain  and  intended  killing  them  all,  which  I 
prevented  in  order  that  they  might  increase,  but  I  did  not  deny 
that  they  belonged  to  their  owners.  Now  any  one  may  see  that 
the  pigs  are  beyond  counting  in  the  island,  and  all  of  them 
came  from  the  same  breed,  which  I  brought  out  in  the  ships  and 
cared  for  at  my  own  expense,  —  except  the  first  cost  which  was 
70  maravedies  apiece  at  the  Island  of  Gomera.  They  say  that 
the  country  around  Isabella,  where  the  town  is  built,  was  very 
sterile  and  would  not  yield  wheat,  whereas  I  have  harvested  it 
and  eaten  the  bread  therefrom,  .  .  .  although  nobody  cares  any 
longer  for  wheat-bread,  because  the  native  bread  is  very  plenti 
ful,  much  better  for  this  climate  and  is  made  with  less  trouble. 

"  Of  all  this  they  accused  me,  in  defiance  of  truth,  as  I  have 
said,  and  all  in  order  that  your  Majesties  should  detest  both  me 
and  my  enterprise.  It  would  not  have  been  so  had  its  author 
and  discoverer  been  a  proselyte,  for  proselytes  are  enemies  to 
the  prosperity  of  your  Majesties  and  of  all  Christians  ; 1  but  they 
spread  abroad  these  reports  and  endeavored  so  to  manage  that 
the  whole  affair  should  be  a  failure ;  and  I  am  told  that  most  of 
those  who  are  with  Roldan,  who  is  now  in  arms  against  me,  are 
such  proselytes.  They  blame  me  because  of  my  administration 
of  justice,  which  I  always  meted  out  with  so  much  fear  of  God 
and  of  your  Majesties,  —  far  more  than  had  the  culprits  in  their 
brutal  and  loathsome  crimes,  for  which  our  Lord  has  imposed 
such  burdensome  punishments  upon  the  world  and  of  which  the 
Justices  here  possess  the  records.  Countless  other  falsehoods 
they  have  repeated  concerning  me  and  this  country,  which, 
nevertheless,  it  is  evident  Our  Lord  bestowed  miraculously  upon 
us  and  which  is  the  most  fertile  and  beautiful  beneath  the  sun, 
having  gold  and  copper,  all  kinds  of  spices  and  great  quantities 
of  brazil-wood,  and  from  which,  in  slaves  alone,  the  traders  tell 
me  more  than  40  millions  of  maravedies  may  be  secured  each 
year.  They  give  good  reasons  for  this,  as  the  shipments  to 
Europe  amount  to  three  times  as  much  every  year.  In  this 
country  the  people  who  come  here  can  live  in  all  peace,  as  shall 
soon  be  apparent,  and  I  believe  that,  in  view  of  the  necessity 

1  In  allusion  to  Bribiesca,  Fonseca's  lieutenant,  who  was  a  converted 
Moor,  or  Jew.  Columbus  apparently  wishes  to  imply  that  had  the  New 
World  been  found  by  Bribiesca,  there  would  have  been  no  occasion 
for  all  this  trouble,  for  the  simple  reason  that  the  Indies  would  never 
have  belonged  to  Spain. 


THE  FAITH   OF  PRINCES.  373 

prevalent  in  Spain  and  the  great  plenty  of  Hispaniola,  a  great 
population  will  soon  come  here  and  that  its  seat  will  be  at  Isa 
bella,  where  was  the  beginning  of  the  colony,  for  it  is  the  most 
appropriate  and  best  place  in  the  whole  region.  This  we  ought 
readily  to  believe,  as  Our  Lord  led  me  there  by  a  miracle ;  for 
such  it  was,  since  I  could  go  neither  forward  nor  back  with  the 
ships,  but  only  land  there  and  unlade  them.  This  has  been  the 
cause  of  my  writing  this  letter,  for  although  some  shall  say  that 
it  was  unnecessary  to  relate  matters  which  are  past  and  shall 
consider  prolix  what  is  in  fact  so  brief,  I  have  thought  it  was  all 
necessary  both  for  your  Majesties  and  for  other  persons  who 
heard  the  evil  reports  which  have  been  spread  abroad  with  such 
malice  and  untruth  concerning  each  of  the  things  I  have  written 
herein.  And  these  were  said  not  only  by  those  who  went  from 
here,  but  even  more  cruelly  by  certain  individuals  who  never 
left  Spain  at  all,  but  who  had  the  means  of  reaching  your  Majes 
ties'  ear  with  their  malicious  and  artful  tales,  all  to  do  harm  to 
me  whom  they  envied,  as  being  but  a  poor  foreigner.  Through 
all  this,  nevertheless,  I  have  been  sustained  by  Him  who  is  Eter 
nal,  who  has  ever  shown  mercy  to  me,  great  sinner  though  I  be.11 

Before  closing  his  letter  he  makes  a  final  appeal  for  a 
judicial  coadjutor.  The  colonists  knew  that  he  did  not 
dare  to  raise  his  hand  against  them  to  punish  them,  he 
writes,  and  that  the  charges  which  had  been  brought  against 
him  in  Spain  were  believed  there.  His  hands  were  there 
fore  tied;  but  he  would  himself  pay  the  salaries  of  a  judge 
and  two  counsellors  if  their  Majesties  would  appoint  them. 
Only,  he  adds,  let  due  heed  be  given  to  his  prerogatives  in 
making  the  appointments.  "I  may  be  in  error,"  he  says, 
"but  my  judgment  is  that  princes  should  show  much  coun 
tenance  to  their  governors  as  long  as  they  maintain  them  in 
office,  because  when  they  fall  into  disrepute  all  is  lost."  In 
this,  at  least,  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  coincided  with  him. 
They  proposed  to  remove  the  governor  they  were  no  longer 
disposed  to  support. 

Whether  the  King  and  Queen  ever  read  these  last  letters 
of  Columbus,  or  heard  the  declarations  of  his  representa 
tives,  is  problematical.  The  situation  of  their  kingdoms 
was  somewhat  critical,  and  Fonseca  seems  to  have  had  un 
disputed  control  of  the  affairs  of  the  Indies  from  the  time 


374        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

Columbus  sailed  from  San  Lucar  in  '98,  and  to  have  managed 
them  according  to  his  own  views.  No  hint  can  be  found 
that  anything  the  Admiral  wrote  or  his  commissioners  said 
influenced  their  Majesties  by  so  much  as  a  hair's-breadth. 
Had  he  not  existed,  he  could  have  been  no  more  com 
pletely  ignored  than  he  was  during  the  last  half  of  1499  and 
the  early  months  of  1500.  Contract  after  contract  was 
signed  with  privateers  bound  for  the  Indies,  in  open  disre 
gard  of  his  rights.  Lawsuits  were  instituted  to  collect  the 
Crown's  share  of  a  commerce  originated  in  flagrant  violation 
of  his  exclusive  privileges.  One  after  another  the  solemn 
guarantees  of  1493  and  1497  were  vacated  and  cancelled. 
Navarrete  publishes  a  Memorial  existing  among  the  Ar 
chives  of  the  Indies  and  written  in  1500  "amending"  the 
concessions  which  were  granted  to  Columbus  as  inviolable. 
Some  of  these  elaborately  besworn  instruments  were  un 
ceremoniously  rasgados,  i.e.  torn  up;  others  "altered." 
Suggestively  enough  the  first  entry  is  the  "tearing  up"  of 
the  concession  to  the  Admiral  of  exclusive  navigation  in  the 
Ocean  Sea,  while  the  last  greatly  reduces  the  share  granted 
to  him  in  the  profits  derived  from  the  lands  he  should  dis 
cover.  Not  less  suggestive  is  the  fact  that  these  sweeping 
confiscations  of  his  vested  rights  were  the  arbitrary  acts  of 
royal  prepotencia ;  the  seizure  by  the  heavy  hand  of  irre 
sponsible  Might  of  the  property  of  an  unresisting  and  unin 
formed  absentee.  If  any  consideration  could  augment  the 
atrocious  iniquity  of  the  whole  transaction,  it  is  that  the 
man  who  was  thus  boldly  robbed  by  Ferdinand  and  Isabella 
was  their  partner  and  legal  ward.  Elizabeth's  treatment  of 
Raleigh  was  scrupulously  honorable  by  comparison. 

During  all  this  period,  from  the  settlement  with  Roldan 
in  September,  '99,  to  the  spring  of  the  succeeding  year, 
Columbus  was  energetically  striving  to  bring  order  out  of 
chaos.  Dismissing,  regretfully,  his  plans  for  the  imme 
diate  exploration  of  the  southern  continent,  he  kept  Don 
Bartholomew  at  his  side  to  aid  in  the  work  of  reorganizing 
the  colony.  Roldan  claimed  for  himself  and  his  partisans 
the  allotment  of  the  fertile  lands  of  Xaragua  and  the  ser 
vices  of  King  Behechio's  subjects.  The  Admiral,  unwilling 


THE  FAITH  OF  PRINCES.  375 

to  concentrate  the  malcontents  in  a  region  so  remote  from 
his  authority,  gave  them  instead  allotments  in  various  dis 
tricts  within  easier  reach  of  San  Domingo  and  the  fortresses. 
To  each  settler,  or  group  of  two  or  three,  he  granted  the 
services  of  a  cacique  and  so  many  Indians,  and  in  many 
instances  the  grants  amounted  to  little  less  than  the  installa 
tion  of  one  or  more  of  Roldan's  ruffians  as  the  proprietor 
of  a  native  village  and  its  plantations  of  yams  and  mandioca. 
It  has  been  justly  said  that  this  was  the  beginning  of  that 
system  of  organized  bondage  which,  under  the  names  of 
repartimiento  and  mita,  brought  such  incalculable  misery 
upon  the  native  population  of  Spanish  America.  But  it 
must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  exaction  of  compulsory 
service  from  the  inhabitants  of  a  newly  discovered  or 
conquered  country,  was  an  essential  element  in  all  the  pro 
grammes  of  territorial  extension  in  that  age.  There  was  no 
cruelty  intended  or  anticipated  in  the  mere  establishment 
of  the  system.  It  was  originally  intended,  in  all  cases,  to 
take  the  place  of  tribute.  That  many  of  the  foulest  outrages 
known  to  history  flowed  from  its  application  to  the  native 
races  of  the  New  World,  was  due  to  the  reckless  inhu 
manity  of  those  who  first  settled  it,  not  to  the  callousness 
or  brutality  of  those  who  first  incorporated  the  measure 
into  their  schemes  of  administration.  Of  all  the  late  rebels, 
Roldan,  as  was  natural,  fared  the  best.  Upon  him  were 
bestowed  rich  and  populous  lands  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Isabella,  others  in  the  famous  Vega  Real,1  and  others  yet  in 
the  coveted  Xaragua.  To  him  were  given  some  of  the  small 
herd  of  cattle  imported  by  the  Admiral  for  breeding  pur 
poses,  and,  in  short,  the  ex-rebel  had  only  to  make  a  request 
to  have  it  allowed.  It  was  of  vital  importance  for  the  peace 
of  the  island  that  the  arch  mischief-maker  should  be  bound 
to  keep  it,  even  if  the  chain  was  of  ponderous  gold.  Hav 
ing  yielded  so  much  to  gain  his  policy,  the  Admiral  was 
not  likely  to  haggle  over  mere  details  of  material  advan 
tage.  He  was  bent  on  attaching  Roldan  to  him  until  final 
instructions  should  come  from  Spain,  and  he  succeeded. 

1  Among  his  serfs,  if  so  we  may  call  them,  was  that  cacique  whose 
ears  were  cut  off  by  Hojeda  in  '93,  as  related  in  Chapter  VIII. 


376        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

Making  deduction  for  a  certain  air  of  swagger  and  bluster 
which  the  reinstated  Chief  Justice  could  not  resist  the 
pleasure  of  exhibiting,  the  Admiral  had  no  more  useful 
lieutenant  for  the  next  year  than  his  late  antagonist.  If  he 
sometimes  exceeded  his  powers,  and  assumed  somewhat 
arrogantly  to  make  appointments  which  were  the  preroga 
tive  of  his  chief,  the  latter  winked  at  them  and  smothered 
the  choler  natural  to  his  proud  spirit.  He  was  biding  his 
time,  as  he  had  so  often  done  before,  and  the  bread  of 
humiliation  had  lost  something  of  its  bitterness  by  frequent 
use. 

The  news  of  Hojeda's  arrival  on  the  coast  suggested 
more  to  the  Admiral  than  a  mere  infraction  of  his  rights  as 
Viceroy  of  Hispaniola  and  the  Indies.  It  was  imperative 
that  he  should  know  the  motive  and  plans  of  his  late  fol 
lower.  To  ascertain  these  he  promptly  sent  a  couple  of 
caravels  along  the  southern  coast,  towards  the  west,  and 
chose  Roldan  to  conduct  the  expedition.  The  latter  found 
Hojeda's  squadron  at  anchor  in  the  port  of  Yaquimo,1  its 
commander  with  a  party  of  men  being  ashore  cutting  brazil 
wood.  As  soon  as  he  was  notified  by  Roldan' s  presence, 
Hojeda  repaired  to  the  anchorage  and  held  an  interview. 
To  him  the  visitor  was  Chief  Justice  of  the  island,  and 
when  he  demanded  by  what  authority  the  strangers  were 
on  that  coast,  Hojeda  unhesitatingly  replied  that  he  would 
exhibit  his  license  as  soon  as  it  could  be  brought  from  on 
board  his  ship.  He  also  yielded  readily  to  Roldan' s  de 
mand  that  the  four  caravels  should  report  without  delay  at 
San  Domingo,  and  volunteered  the  statement  that  it  had 
been  his  intention,  in  any  case  to  go  and  place  himself  at 
the  Admiral's  orders,  as  in  duty  bound.  If  Roldan  was 
possessed  of  even  a  modicum  of  humor,  he  must  have  been 
impressed  with  this  declaration.  As  it  was,  he  hastened 

1  This  is  usually  referred  to  by  Columbus  in  his  letters  as  "  the  Port 
of  Brazil,"  from  the  quantity  of  that  dye-wood  found  in  the  adjacent 
forests.  The  use  of  this  word  as  a  geographical  designation  several 
years  before  the  discovery,  by  Vincent  Yanez,  of  the  country  afterwards 
called  by  the  same  name,  is  not  devoid  of  interest  for  the  student  of 
historical  geography. 


THE  FAITH   OF  PRINCES.  3/7 

on  board  Hojeda's  vessels  and  set  himself  to  learn  all  he 
could.  What  he  heard  from  his  old  associates  — for  there 
were  many  with  Hojeda  who,  like  him,  had  come  out  with 
the  Admiral  in  '93  and  returned  since  to  Spain  —  was  that 
it  was  common  report  at  the  Court  and  in  Seville,  that  the 
Admiral  was  to  be  deprived  of  his  rank  as  Viceroy,  and  that 
the  Indies  were  thrown  open  to  general  commerce.  Juan 
de  la  Cosa  showed  Roldan  the  license  granted  Hojeda  by 
Bishop  Fonseca,  and  gave  him  an  account  of  the  whole 
voyage,  which  makes  a  disagreeably  "deadly  parallel  "  with 
Vespucci's  later  account  of  his  own  alleged  earlier  expedi 
tion.  Possessed  of  this  information  Roldan  wrote  to  the 
Admiral,  by  a  native  courier,  that  he  had  learned  much 
more  than  he  dared  commit  to  paper,  but  would  soon  be 
with  him  to  relate  all.  His  own  two  caravels  he  ordered 
to  load  with  brazil-wood  and  then  return  to  San  Domingo, 
and  started  himself  for  Xaragua,  supposing  that  Hojeda 
would  in  due  time  sail  up  the  coast  to  report  to  the  Admiral 
as  he  had  promised.  Without  following  the  fortunes  of 
these  two  worthies  in  detail,  we  may  say  that  Hojeda,  in 
stead,  sailed  around  to  Xaragua  and  openly  proclaimed  to 
the  few  Spanish  settlers  in  that  region,  that,  if  they  would 
join  him,  he  would  lead  them  against  the  Admiral  and 
extort  from  him  all  and  more  than  Roldan  had  ever  pro 
posed  to  obtain.  This  soon  reaching  the  latter 's  ears,  he 
joined  together  a  body  of  forty  or  fifty  of  his  companions 
and  other  settlers  and  set  out  to  settle  matters  with  Hojeda. 
For  three  or  four  months  they  negotiated,  skirmished,  mur 
dered  each  other's  followers,  and  marched  and  counter 
marched,  with  alternating  success,  until  Roldan  by  a  simple 
stratagem  got  Hojeda  within  his  power  and  exacted  terms 
with  which  his  prisoner  was  forced  to  comply.  Under 
these  he  left  Hispaniola  with  his  four  caravels,  fairly  well 
laden  with  brazil-wood  and  slaves,  in  February  or  March  of 
1500,  and  made  his  way  back  to  Spain.1 

1  In  his  account  of  his  alleged  second  voyage,  Vespucci  thus  refers 
to  the  incidents  above  related :  "  We  arrived  at  the  Island  of  Antillia, 
which  Christopher  Columbus  discovered  a  few  years  ago,  where  we 
remained  two  months  and  two  days,  repairing  our  rigging  and  equip- 


3/8        THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

Columbus  was  kept  faithfully  informed  by  Roldan  of  all 
these  occurrences.  Every  week  or  two  native  runners  were 
sent  to  the  Admiral  with  reports,  and  brought  back  his 
orders.  The  distance  between  Xaragua  and  the  centre  of 
the  island,  where  the  Admiral  and  Don  Bartholomew  were 
engaged  in  making  their  tour  of  organization  and  pacifica 
tion,  was  more  than  three  hundred  miles,  but  the  Indians 
could  cover  the  distance  in  four  or  five  days,  and  thus  com 
munication  was  both  prompt  and  reliable.  When,  there 
fore,  Roldan  notified  him  that  Hojeda  had  definitely  left 
the  coast;  but  that  a  certain  young  cavalier,  Guevara  by 
name,  who,  being  a  cousin  of  his  own  ex-lieutenant,  Mox- 
ica,  had  taken  part  in  his  recent  rebellion,  was  now 
endeavoring  to  stir  up  fresh  disorders  in  Xaragua,  Colum 
bus  instantly  ordered  that  he  should  be  expelled  from  that 
province  and  assigned  to  a  residence  elsewhere.  Guevara 
begged  to  be  sent  to  Cahay,  where  Moxica  was  settled,  and 
Roldan  consented;  but  instead  of  going  the  young  man 
remained  in  Xaragua,  which  was  to  him  a  fool's  paradise 
by  reason  of  a  love  affair  he  had  on  hand  with  the  daughter 
of  the  famous  and  beautiful  chieftainess  Anacaona.  Either 
because  of  his  disobedience,  or  because  of  his  loose  fashion 
of  declaiming  against  the  Admiral  and  Roldan,  or  because 
the  latter  had  designs  of  his  own  concerning  the  Indian 
beauty,  or  for  all  these  motives  combined,  Roldan  was 
much  incensed,  and  formally  warned  Guevara  that  the  con 
sequences  were  likely  to  be  serious  if  he  continued  to  dis 
regard  the  Admiral's  orders.  Several  interviews  ensued 
without  other  result  than  Roldan  summoning  his  unruly 
partisan  to  obey  his  commands  under  pain  of  the  law,  to 
which  Guevara  responded  with  such  insolent  threats  that 
he  was  ordered  to  leave  Xaragua  at  once  and  present  him- 

ment,  and  suffering  at  times  many  injuries  from  the  Christians  who 
were  settled  there,  which  I  refrain  from  recounting  to  avoid  prolixity." 
The  passage  quoted  is  notable  less  from  the  ingenuity  with  which  it 
perverts  the  truth  than  from  the  fact  that  it  contains  the  only  allusion. 
in  all  Vespucci's  writings  of  Columbus  or  his  discoveries.  In  his 
anxiety  to  economize  words,  Hojeda's  immortal  supercargo  confined 
his  great  rival's  glory  to  the  finding  of  the  single  island  of  Hayti. 


THE  FAITH   OF  PRINCES.  379 

self  before  the  Admiral  for  the  latter' s  sentence  upon  his 
misdemeanors.  To  gain  time,  Guevara  begged  to  be  per 
mitted  to  wait  until  Roldan  joined  the  Admiral,  and  this 
was  yielded;  whereupon  he  immediately  began  to  incite 
the  other  Spaniards  to  murder  Roldan  on  the  ground  of 
alleged  tyranny.  This  was  reported,  as  such  plots  are  wont 
to  be,  to  the  intended  victim,  who  quickly  seized  Guevara 
and  seven  associates,  and  communicated  the  whole  affair  to 
the  Admiral,  with  a  request  for  instructions.  The  reply 
was,  that  the  prisoners  should  be  sent  under  guard  to  San 
Domingo  to  be  tried  for  their  offences. 

Thus  far  the  incident,  except  for  the  insubordination  of 
Guevara,  had  not  transcended  the  limits  of  a  personal  quar 
rel.  The  character  of  the  Spanish  settlers  in  Xaragua,  and 
their  readiness  to  listen  to  Hojeda's  treasonable  proposals, 
justified  the  severity  shown  by  Roldan  as  soon  as  he  found 
Guevara  instigating  fresh  disturbances;  but  otherwise  it  is 
fair  to  suppose  that  the  Chief  Justice  was  mainly  influenced 
by  a  desire  to  satisfy  his  own  grudge.  The  matter  assumed 
a  graver  complexion  when  Adrian  de  Moxica,  on  hearing 
of  the  arrest  and  deportation  of  his  cousin,  swore  roundly 
that  he  would  take  vengeance  on  Roldan,  and  scoured  the 
Vega  drumming  up  recruits  to  attempt  a  rescue.  His  pop 
ularity  and  reputation  for  daring  were  such  that  in  a  few 
days  he  had  assembled  a  formidable  band  of  chronic 
malcontents,  both  on  foot  and  mounted,  whose  openly 
avowed  purpose  was  to  release  Guevara,  and  assassinate  both 
Roldan  and  the  Admiral.  This  came  to  the  latter 's  ears  as 
he  was  quartered  at  Fort  Conception,  in  the  Vega.  For 
once  he  silenced  the  whisperings  of  prudence  and  chose 
the  solution  natural  to  his  energetic  spirit.  Either  he  was 
Viceroy  and  Governor  General  of  this  island  for  his  King 
and  Queen,  or  it  was  ruled  by  every  desperado  who  chose 
to  raise  the  standard  of  revolt  and  the  old  cry  of  oppression 
by  his  brothers  and  himself.  Quite  apart  from  the  immi 
nent  peril  in  which  he  and  his  colleague  stood  by  reason 
of  Moxica' s  strength,  was  the  consideration  that  if  he  winked 
at  this  last  exhibition  of  lawless  audacity,  the  very  peasants 
in  the  fields  would  turn  upon  him  in  contempt  of  his  sup- 


380        THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

posed  weakness  or  pusillanimity.  If  he  was  ever  to  reassert 
his  authority  he  must  do  it  now  and  effectively.  He  had 
with  him  but  a  handful  of  dependents  in  whose  loyalty  he 
could  trust,  —  half  a  dozen  personal  attendants,  and  three 
soldiers, — but  with  these  he  determined  to  make  the 
attempt.  Setting  out  at  night  from  Conception  with  this 
little  band,  the  Admiral  marched  hastily  and  stealthily  to 
where  Moxica  was  encamped.  A  sudden  charge,  a  con 
fused  struggle  in  the  darkness,  and  the  rebels  fled,  leaving 
their  leader  and  some  of  his  adherents  prisoners  in  the 
hands  of  their  uncounted  assailants.  With  equal  expedi 
tion  they  were  hurried  back  to  the  fort,  interrogated,  and 
sentence  of  death  pronounced  upon  their  chief.  Protesting 
that  he  was  unfit  to  die  without  absolution,  one  of  the  few 
priests  in  the  colony,  who  was  stationed  at  the  fort,  was 
assigned  to  hear  the  doomed  man's  confession  and  minis 
ter  the  rites  of  the  Church.  Instead  of  applying  himself  to 
the  offices  of  religion,  the  culprit  sought  to  occupy  the 
priest's  attention  and  gain  time.  Warned  repeatedly  of 
the  futility  of  his  artifice,  he  persisted  in  pursuing  it  until, 
seeing  that  his  only  motive  was  to  prolong  the  scene  in 
hope  of  a  rescue,  the  Admiral  gave  orders  to  end  a  spectacle 
whose  continuation  could  only  result  in  greater  demoraliza 
tion.  Struggling  in  the  hands  of  his  jailers  and  crying  out 
that  he  had  falsely  accused  many  innocent  people  as  being 
his  accomplices,  the  wretched  outlaw  was  swung  off  from 
the  turret  to  which  his  halter  had  been  made  fast.  Follow 
ing  up  his  advantage,  the  Admiral  seized  other  ringleaders 
and  dealt  out  a  like  summary  punishment  to  them,  while  he 
despatched  Don  Bartholomew  to  follow  the  fugitives  into 
Xaragua  and  bring  them  to  San  Domingo  for  trial.  In  the 
course  of  a  few  weeks  the  Adelantado  had  sent  to  that  city 
sixteen  prisoners,  who  were  consigned  to  the  dungeon  of 
the  Admiral's  fortified  house  to  await  the  action  of  the  law. 
He  also  had  hung  several  of  Moxica' s  most  truculent  asso 
ciates,  as  fast  as  he  captured  them  in  Xaragua. 

Much  has  been  said,  by  those  who  distort  his  every  act, 
of  the  shocking  cruelty  displayed  by  Columbus  in  these 
proceedings.  It  is  well  to  recall  that  Moxica  and  his  fellow 


THE   FAITH   OF  PRINCES.  381 

conspirators  had  entered  into  a  solemn  covenant  to  keep 
the  peace  only  a  few  months  before,  in  virtue  of  which  they 
had  already  been  pardoned  the  crime  of  former  rebellion; 
that  they  specifically  agreed  to  bear  the  consequences 
of  both  their  past  and  renewed  misdeeds  in  the  event  of 
entering  into  any  fresh  conspiracy;  and  that  in  this  case 
the  Admiral  had  either  to  yield  up  his  authority  and  his 
life,  or  to  hold  the  recreants  pitilessly  to  their  voluntarily 
assumed  pledge.  That  Columbus  was  driven,  despite  his 
deep-rooted  scruples  against  shedding  Castilian  blood,  to 
execute  Moxica  and  his  principal  confederates,  is  the  most 
convincing  evidence  possible  as  to  the  imperative  necessity 
of  his  action.1 

He  was  only  too  soon  to  have  an  opportunity  to  defend 
himself.  While  he  was  yet  in  the  neighborhood  of  Con 
ception,  making  his  final  arrangements  for  the  administra 
tion  of  the  now  quiet  province,  and  looking  forward  to  a 
season  of  uninterrupted  peace  and  the  prosecution  of  his 
long-deferred  plans  concerning  Paria,  he  received  a  message 
from  Don  Diego  saying  that  Don  Francisco  de  Bobadilla 
had  arrived  at  San  Domingo,  deposed  the  Admiral,  taken 
possession  of  the  government,  and  proclaimed  himself  as 
Governor  of  the  Indies. 

1  Las  Casas  says  that  he  heard  the  facts,  as  he  narrates  them,  from 
sundry  of  the  participants  when  he  reached  San  Domingo  about  a  year 
and  a  half  after  they  occurred,  and  that  he  read  "  a  certain  legal 
inquiry,  in  which  many  witnesses  testified  to  what  I  have  related." 
This  is  better  evidence  than  the  prejudiced  suppositions  of  later  cen 
turies. 


XIX. 
THE   TRIUMPH   OF   INTRIGUE. 

ALTHOUGH  he  had  the  assertions  of  Hojeda  to  pre 
pare  him  for  some  unfriendly  demonstration  on  the 
part  of  the  King  and  Queen,  Columbus  could  not  bring 
himself  at  first  to  believe  that  Bobadilla  arrived  in  any 
capacity  other  than  as  the  judge  whose  appointment  he  had 
solicited  so  repeatedly.  He  awaited  with  impatience  the 
receipt  of  some  letter  or  message  of  notification  from  the 
newcomer,  and  when  none  came,  addressed  him  a  cour 
teous  letter  of  welcome  and  congratulation.  To  this  no 
reply  was  received,  and  seized  with  anxious  forebodings, 
the  Admiral  left  Conception  and  moved  to  the  village  of 
Bonao,  nearer  San  Domingo,  to  inform  himself  of  the  real 
posture  of  affairs  in  that  town. 

It  seemed  to  him  incredible  that  the  sovereigns  should 
propose  to  invade  his  clearly  defined  prerogatives  at  the 
very  moment  when  he  had  restored  order  in  the  colony,  and 
was  free  to  execute  those  plans  for  enriching  the  royal  coffers 
which  he  pursued  with  such  persistent  and  unfortunate 
loyalty.  Just  before  the  news  of  Bobadilla' s  appearance 
reached  him,  he  had  prepared  a  report  for  transmission  to 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella  in  which  he  was  able  to  announce  the 
suppression  of  all  armed  insurrection  among  the  rebellious 
colonists,  and  the  establishment  of  peaceful  relations  with 
the  natives.  In  this  document  he  informs  his  sovereigns 
that  the  Indians  were  so  completely  pacified  that  a  Spaniard 
could  pass  alone  from  one  end  of  the  island  to  the  other 
without  fear  of  molestation,  and  that  the  island  would 
382 


THE    TRIUMPH  OF  INTRIGUE.  383 

surely  yield,  without  any  violent  effort  being  made,  a  reve 
nue  of  sixty  millions  of  maravedies  during  the  current  year, 
which  the  now  assured  exploitation  of  the  gold  mines  would 
increase  to  120,000  golden  pesos  by  1503.  He  also  says 
that  it  is  his  intention  to  gather  the  natives  together  into 
large  settlements,  so  that  they  may  be  more  readily  con 
trolled  and  taught  the  Christian  faith,  and  affirms  that  it 
will  be  easy  to  bring  them  to  serve  the  Crown  with  as  much 
loyalty  as  the  inhabitants  of  Castile.  More  than  this,  he 
adds,  it  is  his  purpose  to  despatch  Don  Bartholomew  with 
out  further  delay  to  build  a  fort  on  the  mainland  of  Paria, 
and  establish  a  permanent  traffic  with  the  people  of  that 
continent  for  the  pearls  they  hold  so  cheap.  From  their 
great  plenty  he  believes  it  to  be  no  exaggeration  to  say  that 
their  Majesties  may  expect  to  derive  from  such  a  settlement 
a  barrelful  of  these  precious  articles  each  year.  With  such 
hopes  and  schemes  filling  his  mind  he  was  little  prepared 
for  the  news  which  reached  him  from  Don  Diego. 

He  had,  however,  heard  as  yet  but  an  insignificant  part 
of  what  had  occurred  in  San  Domingo.  As  if  Fortune  had 
decreed  that  no  element  of  tragedy  should  be  wanting  from 
the  overthrow  of  the  man  she  used  so  capriciously,  even 
the  circumstances  of  Bobadilla's  arrival  involved  a  cruel 
disappointment  for  the  Admiral.  It  was  early  on  the 
morning  of  a  Sunday,  the  23rd  of  August,  that  the  inhabi 
tants  of  the  seaport  saw  two  caravels  in  the  offing  trying  to 
make  the  anchorage  in  the  face  of  the  land  breeze.  Don 
Diego  at  once  conjectured  that  they  were  the  vessels  sent 
from  Spain  in  answer  to  the  Admiral's  appeal,  and  assumed 
that  on  board  one  of  them  was  his  nephew  and  namesake, 
the  Admiral's  older  son,  whose  arrival  was  even  more  anx 
iously  expected  by  his  father  than  the  assurances  of  royal 
approval  which  he  held  so  dear.  To  assist  the  caravels  in 
making  a  speedier  entry,  and  hasten  his  nephew's  arrival, 
Don  Diego  at  once  sent  out  three  of  his  attendants  in  a 
boat  manned  by  Indian  rowers.  On  reaching  the  nearest 
vessel  the  messengers  inquired  whether  Don  Diego  the 
younger  was  on  board.  Bobadilla  himself  answered  the 
hail  and  said  that  the  Admiral's  son  was  not  aboard;  but 


384        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF  THE  ADMIRAL. 

that  he,  the  speaker,  had  been  sent  out  by  their  Majesties 
in  answer  to  the  Admiral's  request,  as  judge  to  investi 
gate  and  punish  the  disorders  in  the  island.  In  reply  to 
various  questions,  the  messengers  stated  that  Columbus  and 
his  brothers  had  already  accomplished  this,  that  in  the  past 
week  seven  rebels  had  been  hung  in  the  town,  that  Guevara 
and  four  companions  were  to  be  hanged  very  soon,  and 
that  the  Admiral  and  Don  Bartholomew  were  in  the  interior 
searching  for  the  few  insurgents  who  had  eluded  capture, 
and  for  whom  the  same  fate  was  reserved.  Having  thus, 
either  maliciously  or  innocently,  put  the  new  governor  in 
possession  of  all  he  required  to  know  for  determining  his 
course  of  action,  the  messengers  returned  to  land  and  re 
ported  to  Don  Diego.  Their  account  created,  as  might  be 
expected,  a  profound  commotion  among  the  townspeople. 
The  Admiral's  friends  foresaw  at  least  a  renewal  of  the  old 
intrigues  and  disputes,  while  his  ill-wishers  —  and  they 
were  in  the  great  majority  —  hailed  the  prospect  of  airing 
their  grievances  afresh.  As  soon  as  wind  and  tide  per 
mitted  the  vessels  to  anchor  near  the  landing  place,  the 
citizens  swarmed  out  to  them,  bent  on  making  friends  with 
the  new  judge  and  drawing  their  own  conclusions  as  to  the 
best  manner  of  setting  their  individual  sails.  Bobadilla  had 
no  difficulty  in  extracting  all  the  information  he  wanted 
from  the  obsequious  throng  without  betraying  his  own  inten 
tions,  and  pleading  some  excuse  for  not  landing  that  day, 
he  announced  his  intention  of  publicly  proclaiming  his 
commission  in  the  city  church  the  next  morning  at  the 
conclusion  of  Mass.  The  sight  of  two  gallows  with  a  couple 
of  corpses  dangling  from  them,  plainly  visible  from  his 
decks,  may  have  given  him  food  for  more  protracted 
reflection. 

The  absence  of  any  conciliatory  or  even  formal  commu 
nication  from  Bobadilla  was  ample  indication  to  Don  Diego 
that  trouble  was  brewing.  As  governor  of  the  city  and 
delegate  for  the  Admiral  he  was  entitled  to  expect  the  ob 
servance  of  that  punctilious  etiquette  which  forms  so  large 
a  part  of  Spanish  official  intercourse.  Taking  counsel  with 
Rodrigo  Perez,  the  mayor,  and  Miguel  Diaz,  commandant 


THE    TRIUMPH  OF  INTRIGUE.  385 

of  the  fortress,  he  decided  to  leave  the  initiative  with 
Bobadilla,  and  act  as  circumstances  demanded.  It  was 
with  no  light  heart  that  he  and  his  small  body  of  devoted 
adherents  entered  the  crowded  church  on  the  following 
morning.  Bobadilla  arrived  with  a  retinue  of  brand-new 
officials  and  a  formidable  body-guard.  The  service  was 
disposed  of  with  as  much  or  as  little  reverence  as  the  preva 
lent  excitement  allowed,  and  the  whole  congregation  ad 
journed  to  before  the  church  doors,  the  usual  place  for  the 
promulgation  of  official  acts.  Calling  upon  the  notary  who 
accompanied  him,  Bobadilla  caused  to  be  read  the  commis 
sion  issued  to  him  in  May  of  the  previous  year,  in  which 
he  was  appointed  judge  of  the  island,  with  special  reference 
to  the  disorders  reported  by  the  Admiral.  There  was  noth 
ing  in  this  to  alarm  Don  Diego,  and  when,  the  reading 
terminated,  Bobadilla  summoned  him  as  the  Admiral's 
representative  to  deliver  up  the  prisoners  lying  under  sen 
tence  of  death,  together  with  all  the  papers  in  their  cases, 
preparatory  to  the  opening  of  a  new  trial,  Don  Diego  was 
able  to  reply  with  unassailable  logic  that  this  exceeded  his 
powers,  since  the  authority  of  his  brother,  as  Viceroy,  was 
supreme  in  the  island;  but  that  he  would  instantly  submit 
the  whole  question  to  him  if  Bobadilla  would  favor  him 
with  transcripts  of  his  commission.  To  this  the  new  judge 
answered  that  if  Don  Diego  had  no  power  to  act  he  had  no 
need  of  a  transcript,  and  betook  himself  back  to  his  ships. 
The  next  morning  the  church  was  again  crowded,  upon  the 
probability  of  a  renewal  of  the  contest  between  the  rival 
officials.  At  the  end  of  the  Mass  Bobadilla  again  demanded 
the  attention  of  the  throng,  and  caused  to  be  read  the  second 
royal  commission  given  him,  in  which  he  was  appointed 
Governor  of  the  Indies.  This  done,  and  a  formal  certifi 
cate  thereof  signed  by  the  notary,  Bobadilla  repeated  his 
summons  of  the  day  before.  Don  Diego,  showing  a  front 
which  proved  him  to  be  made  of  the  same  metal  as  his 
brothers,  responded  that  he  gladly  acknowledged  the  force 
of  any  royal  decree,  and  would  assuredly  respect  its  man 
dates,  but  that  he  could  not  deliver  up  his  prisoners  except 
with  the  approval  of  the  Viceroy,  whose  powers  must 

25 


386        THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

necessarily  be  supreme  since  they  were  perpetual  and  un 
conditioned.  To  him  the  whole  subject  would  be  referred, 
and  he  would  promptly  act  as  was  best  for  their  Majesties' 
interests.  Seeing  that  this  determined  but  respectful  stand 
was  making  an  impression  upon  the  crowd,  Bobadilla  de 
cided  to  show  his  whole  hand.  He  directed  the  notary  to 
read  the  third  warrant,  issued  by  the  King  and  Queen  the  year 
before,  wherein  the  Admiral  and  his  brothers  were  specifi 
cally  called  upon  to  deliver  up  the  royal  fortresses  and 
property  to  the  new  governor,  and  to  yield  him  implicit  obedi 
ence.  In  order  to  win  over  the  colonists  more  completely  to 
his  side,  he  also  caused  to  be  read  a  codicil,  dated  in  May 
of  the  current  year,  1500,  authorizing  Bobadilla  to  pay  all 
arrears  of  salary  and  wages,  whether  due  by  the  Crown  or 
by  the  Admiral,  out  of  the  revenues  of  the  island,  in  prefer 
ence  to  any  other  expenditure  "  in  such  manner  that  the 
people  shall  receive  all  that  they  are  entitled  to  and  may 
have  no  cause  for  complaint."  As  this  was  one  of  their 
main  grievances  against  Columbus, —  albeit  his  inability  to 
pay  them  was  due  wholly  to  their  own  rebellious  acts, — the 
populace  instantly  saw  that  they  were  likely  to  gain  far 
more  from  the  complaisance  of  this  new  ruler  than  they 
had  from  the  sturdy  justice  of  the  Viceroy,  and  received 
the  royal  decrees  with  extravagant  acclamations.  So  far 
as  San  Domingo  was  concerned,  Bobadilla  had  won  the 
day,  and  there  was  little  reason  to  doubt  that  the  rest  of  the 
island  would  receive  him  with  equal  enthusiasm. 

Once  more  the  demand  was  made  for  the  surrender  of 
Guevara  and  his  companions,  and  again  Don  Diego  replied 
as  before.  To  this  Bobadilla  answered  that  he  would  take 
them  by  force,  and  forthwith  marched  his  command  to  the 
fortress.  This  was  held  by  Miguel  Diaz,  Garay's  associate 
in  the  discovery  of  the  Bonao  goldfields  and  a  loyal  officer 
of  the  Admiral.  In  reply  to  Bobadilla' s  summons  he 
appeared  between  the  turrets  of  the  edifice  and  paid  cere 
monious  attention  to  the  reading  of  the  royal  decrees. 
This  finished,  and  a  formal  demand  made  for  the  delivery 
of  the  fortress  and  its  prisoners,  the  doughty  captain  in  his 
turn  asked  for  copies  of  the  documents,  alleging  that  he 


THE    TRIUMPH  OF  INTRIGUE.  387 

held  his  ward  for  the  King  and  Queen  under  commission 
from  the  Admiral,  his  master,  who  had  discovered  and  sub 
dued  these  lands,  and  that  when  his  superior  ordered  he 
would  do  all  required  by  him.  Seeing  that  there  was  but 
small  chance  of  overpersuading  such  obdurate  loyalty,  Boba- 
dilla  sent  to  the  ships  for  all  his  armed  followers  and  his 
sailors,  and  called  upon  the  multitude  to  arm  themselves 
and  join  him  in  the  reduction  of  the  stronghold.  Nothing 
loth,  the  citizens  hastened  to  his  support,  protesting  that 
if  there  were  one  thing  they  desired  more  ardently  than 
another  it  was  to  show  their  cheerful  obedience  to  the 
royal  authority.  With  this  formidable  array,  Bobadilla 
returned  to  the  fortress  late  in  the  day,  and  repeated  his 
demand  that  the  doors  should  be  thrown  open.  Miguel 
Diaz  at  once  stepped  out  on  the  walls,  accompanied  by 
Diego  de  Alvarado,  one  of  the  Admiral's  secretaries,  both 
holding  their  naked  swords  in  their  hands,  and  declared 
that  he  had  no  recourse  except  to  reaffirm  what  he  had  said 
earlier  in  the  day.  Without  further  parley  the  new  governor 
ordered  an  assault  to  be  made  upon  the  place;  scaling 
ladders  were  run  up  against  the  walls,  and  a  heavy  timber 
brought  to  bear  against  the  door.  Under  this  furious 
onslaught  the  doors  yielded,  and  the  attacking  party  found 
itself  face  to  face  with  Diaz  and  Alvarado,  now  standing  in 
passive  protest  at  the  entrance  of  the  building.  Bobadilla 
at  once  sent  for  the  prisoners,  and  after  asking  them  a  few 
questions  turned  them  over  to  his  own  constable.  There 
being  nothing  more  to  do,  he  dismissed  the  mob,  left  a  guard 
in  the  fortress  and  returned  to  his  vessels.  The  authority 
of  the  Viceroy  was  at  an  end. 

These  drastic  measures  were  but  the  prelude  to  what  was  to 
follow.  The  new  governor,  recognizing  the  justice,  under 
the  Spanish  laws,  of  the  claim  for  evidence  of  his  authority 
made  by  both  Don  Diego  and  Miguel  Diaz,  now  had  formal 
copies  of  the  decrees  made,  and  despatched  an  officer,  bear 
ing  the  wand  of  justice,  into  the  interior  with  them  for  the 
information  of  the  Admiral,  Don  Bartholomew,  Roldan, 
and  the  colonists  at  large.  To  Roldan  he  wrote  a  letter 
promising  substantial  advantages  if  he  quickly  recognized 


388        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

the  new  authority.  To  the  Admiral  and  his  brother  he 
neither  wrote  nor  sent  a  word.  When  the  messenger  reached 
the  Admiral  in  Bonao  and  presented  his  notification,  the 
Admiral  declined  to  admit  the  interpretation  claimed  for  it 
by  Bobadilla.  He  was  Viceroy  and  Perpetual  Governor 
General  of  the  islands,  he  averred,  and  no  decree  could 
displace  him.  The  intention  of  these  present  ones  was 
only  to  constitute  Bobadilla  judge  and  governor  in  so  far 
as  the  administration  of  justice  was  involved.  In  assertion 
of  his  right,  he  formally  summoned  the  messenger  and  all 
others  present  to  render  him  continued  obedience  as  Vice 
roy  and  Governor  in  all  that  concerned  the  general  inter 
ests,  and  to  recognize  the  authority  of  Bobadilla  in  all  that 
related  to  judicial  matters.  In  doing  this,  Columbus  was 
acting  well  within  his  legal  rights.  To  have  done  less 
would  have  been  to  abdicate  his  rank,  title,  and  preroga 
tives,  and  seriously  impaired  the  value  of  his  subsequent 
protests.  The  powers  given  Bobadilla  were  invested  with 
none  of  the  extraordinary  solemnities  attending  the  issuance 
of  the  Admiral's  patents,  and  for  him  to  have  yielded  to 
them  at  the  first  demand  would  have  been  tantamount  to  a 
confession  that  his  own  chartered  rights  rested  on  no  more 
secure  tenure  than  the  caprice  of  his  sovereigns.  In  employ 
ing  the  means  he  did  to  safeguard  these,  he  implied  no 
disrespect  to  his  sovereigns,  their  mandates  or  their  com 
missioner.  It  is  as  unreasonable  to  expect  him  to  have 
done  otherwise  as  it  would  have  been  suicidal  for  him  to 
let  Bobadilla' s  curt  announcement  pass  without  remon 
strance.  As  yet  he  had  only  partial  information  of  what 
had  occurred  in  San  Domingo,  and  after  his  recent  experi 
ences  with  Roldan  and  Hojeda, —  to  say  nothing  of  his 
recollections  of  Boil,  Margarite,  and  Aguado, —  he  could 
not  suffer  a  summary  demand  for  his  acquiescence  in  his 
own  deposition  to  become  effective  through  his  failure  to 
expostulate. 

No  time  was  lost  by  the  messenger  in  advising  the  new 
governor  of  the  position  taken  by  the  Admiral.  Knowing 
his  devotion  to  the  Church  and  its  ministers,  Bobadilla 
immediately  sent  a  Franciscan  friar,  accompanied  by  Velas- 


THE    TRIUMPH  OF  INTRIGUE.  389 

quez,  the  newly  appointed  royal  treasurer,  into  Bonao  with 
the  brief  letter  from  the  King  and  Queen  to  Columbus 
which  they  had  written  at  the  time  of  signing  the  decrees.1 
By  the  time  they  reached  him  the  Admiral  was  in  posses 
sion  of  more  detailed  information  from  his  brother  as  to 
the  governor's  proceedings,  and  was  better  able  to  appreci 
ate  the  extent  of  the  dispositions  made  for  his  overthrow. 
The  conversations  he  held  with  the  Franciscan  and  Velas 
quez  convinced  him  that  any  attempt  to  maintain  his  own 
authority  would  be  worse  than  futile.  He  accordingly 
decided  to  accompany  them  back  to  San  Domingo,  and 
thence  sail  for  Spain  to  lay  his  protest  before  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella.  Sending  couriers  to  Don  Bartholomew  and 
Roldan,  who  were  still  in  Xaragua,  he  set  out  to  meet  his 
latest  rival  in  the  town  which  had  so  lately  been  the  capital 
of  the  world  he  had  given  to  Spain. 

Even  with  all  the  lessons  of  the  past  to  darken  his  antici 
pations  of  the  immediate  future,  Columbus  could  not  have 
imagined  a  condition  of  affairs  approaching  the  reality. 
Using  as  a  pretext  his  unwillingness  to  put  himself  at  once 
in  Bobadilla's  power,  the  latter  had  taken  possession  of  the 
Admiral's  residence,  seized  his  books,  papers,  maps,  and 
journals,  appropriated  his  personal  treasure  of  gold,  jewels, 
plate,  and  rare  curiosities,  and  the  horses  in  his  stables* 
To  gain  still  further  the  approbation  of  the  colonists,  he 
announced  that  this  was  done  in  order  to  provide  in  part 
for  the  payment  of  the  wages  due  the  ill-treated  settlers. 
He  followed  up  this  act  of  brigandage  by  proclaiming  the 
abolition  of  the  tithes  due  the  Crown  upon  all  the  products 
of  the  colony,  and  the  removal  of  all  restrictions,  for  twenty 
years,  upon  the  free  mining  of  gold.  Hereafter  the  col 
onists  were  only  to  pay  the  royal  treasury  the  one-eleventh 
part  of  the  precious  metal  secured,  instead  of  the  third  as 
before.  These  concessions  were  obviously  aimed  at  the 
strict,  not  to  say  harsh,  control  which  Columbus  had  invari 
ably  exercised  over  the  mining  privileges, —  as  he  was  in 
duty  bound, —  but  they  were  not  needed  to  convince  the 
people  of  the  complete  and  ignominious  collapse  of  their 
1  See  p.  304,  ante. 


3QO        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

late  Viceroy's  rule.  Roldan  and  his  colleagues  in  their 
moments  of  wildest  excess  had  always  maintained  some 
semblance  of  respect  for  the  finder  and  founder  of  the  new 
empire;  they  could  never  altogether  lose  sight  of  his  pre 
eminent  deeds  and  persistent  defiance  of  difficulties.  But 
this  new  man  showed  no  more  concern  for  the  Admiral  and 
Viceroy  than  if  the  latter  had  been  one  of  the  crop-eared 
convicts  who  was  serving  his  time  on  the  island,  and  quickly 
taking  their  cue  from  him,  the  worthy  colonists  vied  with 
one  another  in  urging  the  governor  to  heap  fresh  affronts 
upon  his  luckless  predecessor.  Yielding  —  not  reluctantly 
—  to  their  persistent  clamor,  Bobadilla  set  on  foot  an  in 
vestigation  of  their  charges  against  Columbus.  This  he 
assumed,  or  pretended,  he  was  authorized  to  do  by  the  text 
of  his  appointment  as  Judge,  and  in  order  to  remove  all 
possibility  of  constraint  on  the  part  of  intending  witnesses, 
he  announced  that  the  testimony  would  be  taken  in  secret. 
We  may  imagine  the  glow  of  joyous  exultation  with  which 
this  prospect  was  greeted  by  the  scores  of  vagabonds,  par 
doned  rebels,  and  worthless  rascals  of  all  sorts,  who  had  felt 
the  hardships  of  strictly  enforced  discipline  or  the  pains 
of  merited  punishment  at  the  hands  of 'the  Admiral,  his 
brothers,  or  his  delegates.  In  their  eagerness  to  vent  their 
malignity,  they  ignored  the  first  requirement  of  credible 
evidence,  and,  by  placing  no  control  upon  their  foul  tongues, 
produced  such  a  mass  of  black  besmirchment,  that  the 
Admiral's  most  venomous  enemy  could  not  have  put  faith  in 
their  allegations.  That  Bobadilla  allowed  them  to  run  on 
unchecked,  reflects  as  little  credit  on  his  perspicacity  as  on 
his  sense  of  decency,  and  we  must  turn  to  the  records  of  the 
then  recently  established  Inquisition  itself  for  a  parallel  to 
this  parody  of  justice. 

Harking  back  to  the  dark  days  which  followed  the  settle 
ment  of  Isabella,  seven  years  before,  the  "witnesses" 
rehashed  all  the  charges  brought  against  Columbus  by 
Bernal  Diaz  de  Pisa,  Fray  Boil,  and  Aguado.  He  inten 
tionally  starved  his  colonists,  they  swore;  compelled  the 
sick  and  fever-stricken  wretches  to  labor  at  the  hardest 
kinds  of  tasks;  scourged  them  mercilessly  when  they  filched 


THE    TRIUMPH   OF  INTRIGUE.  391 

a  handful  of  wheat  to  stay  the  pangs  of  hunger;  and  hanged 
those  who  dared  to  leave  the  camp  in  search  of  the  necessary 
food  he  refused  them.  He  also  hanged  "  many  "  Spaniards 
for  other  trifling  misdeeds,  and  especial  emphasis  was  laid 
upon  his  prodigal  waste  of  Castilian  blood.  To  the  horror 
of  the  pious  and  godly  men  who  were  now  swearing  away 
his  life,  he  would  not  permit  the  clergy  to  baptize  the 
Indians  en  masse,  his  evident  purpose  being  to  retain  them 
in  heathenism  so  as  to  sell  them  for  slaves.1  Although  all  the 
perjured  scamps  who  testified  had  a  quarrel  against  him 
because  he  refused  them  all  the  slaves  they  wished  to  hold, 
they  accused  him  of  stirring  up  revolts  among  the  Indians, 
and  then  "unjustly  "  enslaving  them  for  shipment  to  Spain. 
He  purposely  withheld  licenses  to  work  the  gold  mines, 
they  declared,  so  as  to  hide  the  real  wealth  of  the  island 
from  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  with  intent  to  make  a  trea 
sonable  bargain  with  some  other  monarch.  Of  his  rank 
and  perverse  cruelty  in  connection  with  the  insurrection 
of  Moxica  they  could  not  say  enough.  Finally,  they  swore 
that  the  real  reason  he  had  not  come  instantly  into  San 
Domingo  and  submitted  to  the  new  governor,  was  because 
he  was  collecting  the  Indians  together  with  the  intention 
of  attacking  the  city  and  forcing  Bobadilla  to  return  to 
Spain.  What  they  testified  of  the  Admiral  they  repeated 
of  his  brothers,  and  when  their  depositions  were  combined 
there  was  material  enough  to  hang  a  regiment  of  such  arrant 
traitors  as  these  Genoese. 

The  governor  professed  to  believe  all  this  mass  of  vicious 
contradictions.  His  'first  step  was  to  arrest  Don  Diego, 
clap  chains  about  his  ankles,  and  confine  him  on  board  one 
of  the  caravels  in  the  harbor.  This  done,  he  awaited  the 
arrival  of  the  Admiral,  who  was  daily  expected.  As  soon 
as  he  reached  the  town,  Columbus  went  to  the  government- 

1  Even  Las  Casas,  whose  proudest  title  was  "Defender  of  the 
Indians,"  says  that  Columbus  would  have  committed  "  a  great  sacri 
lege  "  had  he  allowed  the  sacrament  of  baptism  to  be  conferred  on 
the  natives  without  sufficient  preparation.  If  he  was  satisfied  that  the 
Admiral's  conduct  in  this  respect  was  orthodox,  we  may  safely  assume 
as  much. 


392        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF  THE  ADMIRAL. 

house,  or  "palace,"  where  Bobadilla  had  taken  up  his  resi 
dence.  He  found  the  governor  surrounded  by  his  staff  and 
obsequious  attendants.  Without  permitting  the  Admiral 
to  say  a  word,  or  himself  vouchsafing  one  in  explanation, 
Bobadilla  called  upon  the  bystanders  to  seize  him  and 
ordered  him  to  be  placed  in  irons.  To  their  credit,  not  a 
man  moved.  Despite  all  that  malice  could  invent  and 
shamelessness  assert,  this  gray-haired  sailor  was  Viceroy  of 
the  Indies,  discoverer  of  the  new  world,  and  grandee  of 
Spain.  They  might  be  willing  to  plot  against  him,  lie  about 
him,  and  seek  his  downfall  for  their  own  advantage;  but 
between  that  and  treating  him  as  only  the  vilest  malefactor 
was  treated  lay  a  gulf  they  had  not  the  brazen  effrontery  to 
cross.  The  deadly  quiet  which  fell  on  the  assemblage  was 
broken  by  the  advance  of  one  of  the  Admiral's  former  cooks, 
Espinosa  by  name,  who  volunteered  to  perform  the  infamous 
service.  Offering  no  resistance  to  an  outrage  whose  very 
magnitude  benumbed  his  powers  of  speech  and  reason,  the 
Admiral  was  shackled  and  led  at  once  to  the  fortress,  where 
he  was  placed  in  solitary  confinement,  with  strict  injunc 
tions  to  his  jailers  that  no  one  should  visit  or  converse  with 
him.  Within  a  day  or  two  Bobadilla  sent  to  demand  that 
he  write  to  Don  Bartholomew,  summoning  him  to  San 
Domingo  and  warning  him  under  no  circumstances  to 
touch  a  hair  of  the  prisoners  who  were  in  his  power  in 
Xaragua.  To  refuse  the  order  was  to  subject  his  brother 
to  a  worse  fate  than  had  befallen  himself,  and  the  Admiral 
hastened  to  send  a  letter  to  the  Adelantado,  counselling  him 
to  obey  the  governor's  mandate  with'alacrity,  warning  him 
of  the  lot  which  certainly  was  in  store  for  him,  but  adjuring 
him  not  to  attempt  to  resist  it  since  they  would  both  go  to 
Castile  where  their  Majesties  could  not  fail  to  avenge  their 
wrongs.  Don  Bartholomew,  stifling  the  natural  suggestions 
of  his  nature,  complied  with  this  appeal  as  speedily  as  the 
distance  allowed,  and  upon  arriving  at  San  Domingo  was 
instantly  fettered  and  sent  on  board  the  caravel  to  join 
Don  Diego.  The  abject  position  of  the  once  all-powerful 
brothers  afforded  an  opportunity  for  the  venting  of  the 
popular  hatred  which  was  too  rare  to  be  lost.  This  took  the 


THE    TRIUMPH  OF  INTRIGUE.  393 

form  of  opprobrious  pasquinades  and  verses,  which  were 
shouted  through  the  streets  and  placarded  at  the  corners. 
A  successful  mob  is  apt  to  be  much  the  same  all  the  world 
over,  and  in  their  hour  of  triumph  the  graceless  adventurers 
of  Hispaniola  wallowed  in  the  mire  of  their  own  shame  with 
all  the  complacency  of  their  kind.  One  crowning  spectacle 
was  reserved  for  their  delectation,  when  the  wan  and  broken 
Admiral  was  taken  from  the  fortress,  and  sent  on  board  the 
caravel  which  held  his  brothers.  To  see  the  man,  who,  as 
delegate  of  their  King  and  Queen,  had  only  four  short  weeks 
before  ruled  the  western  half  of  the  known  world,  marched 
to  the  beach  between  his  guards,  and  shipped  on  board  a 
vessel  to  cross  in  chains  the  Ocean  over  which  he  had  exer 
cised  the  lofty  rank  of  Admiral,  was  indeed  a  precious 
boon,  and  many  there  were  to  enjoy  it.  It  is  not  surpris 
ing  that  when  Bobadilla's  deputy,  Alonso  de  Vallejo,  entered 
the  cell  where  he  was  confined,  Columbus  should  suppose 
that  he  came  to  announce  his  execution.  "  Where  are  you 
taking  me,  Vallejo?"  he  inquired.  "Your  Worship  is 
going  aboard  ship  to  set  sail,"  was  the  response.  "Is  that 
the  truth,  Vallejo?  "  queried  again  his  prisoner.  "  I  swear 
by  the  life  of  your  Worship  that  we  are  going  to  embark," 
reiterated  the  officer.  Columbus  knew  his  jailer  to  be  a 
man  of  honor,  and  believed  him.  Dismissing  his  own 
apprehensions,  he  accepted  his  fate  with  dignity,  confident 
that  in  Spain  he  would  receive  justice. 

The  two  caravels  which  carried  Columbus  and  his  brothers 
were  the  same  that  had  brought  out  Bobadilla  and  his 
retinue.  They  left  the  harbor  of  San  Domingo  early  in 
October  under  the  command  of  Vallejo,  who  was  especially 
charged  by  Bobadilla  to  deliver  the  three  prisoners,  ironed 
as  they  were,  to  Bishop  Fonseca  immediately  upon  reach 
ing  Cadiz.  Vallejo,  although  he  showed  throughout  the 
voyage  a  respectful  and  sympathetic  anxiety  to  alleviate  the 
distress  of  his  illustrious  captives,  was  chosen  by  the  gov 
ernor  on  account  of  his  close  relations  with  Fonseca.  Both 
in  this  and  in  the  instructions  just  quoted,  the  action  of 
Bobadilla  furnishes  strong  evidence  that  his  whole  proceed 
ing  was  but  the  fulfilment  of  a  deliberate  programme  con- 


394        THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE   ADMIRAL. 

certed  before  his  departure  for  Hispaniola.  To  what 
extent  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  were  cognizant  of  it,  or 
how  it  was  possible  for  Fonseca  to  assume  to  perpetrate  so 
wanton  and  daring  an  outrage  without  their  consent,  is  as 
yet  a  mystery.  All  the  responsibility  was  ultimately  thrown 
on  Bobadilla,  and  charged  to  his  mistaken  zeal  and  excess 
of  powers;  but  if  the  King  and  Queen  were  ignorant  of  his 
intentions  and  plans  he  is  to  be  credited  with  a  degree  of 
audacious  independence  absolutely  without  parallel  in  the 
records  of  Castilian  government. 

Columbus  himself  did  not  suspect  the  loyalty  of  his  sov 
ereigns.  Without  pretending  to  comprehend  the  details 
of  the  plot,  or  the  causes  which  rendered  possible  its  suc 
cess,  he  attributed  his  downfall  to  the  machinations  of  his 
powerful  enemies  at  Court.  That  they  had  impressed,  to 
a  certain  extent,  the  King  and  Queen  with  their  allegations 
he  could  not  question;  but  he  permitted  no  doubt  to  dis 
turb  the  confidence  with  which  he  looked  forward  to  their 
prompt  repudiation  of  Bobadilla's  acts  and  his  own  imme 
diate  restoration  to  his  rank  and  dignities.  That  he  had 
trodden  for  the  last  time  the  soil  of  Hispaniola  as  its  Gov 
ernor,  issued  his  last  orders  as  her  Viceroy,  and  planned 
his  last  scheme  of  improvement  and  administration  for  her 
colony,  never  crossed  his  mind.  There  was  bitterness 
enough  and  to  spare  in  the  reflections  which  crowded  upon 
him  as  the  vessel  slowly  bore  him,  a  shackled  felon,  along 
the  beautiful  southern  coast  of  the  lordly  island.  Every 
headland  spoke  of  an  ambition  blighted,  every  bay  of  a 
righteous  purpose  thwarted,  every  distant  mountain  peak 
of  the  defeat  of  some  cherished  plan  of  further  exploration. 
Past  Cape  Engano,  Saona,  and  Mona;  past  the  noble  bulk  of 
Porto  Rico;  across  the  stormless  sea  studded  with  the  grand 
array  of  towering  islands  which  bore  the  names  he  had 
conferred  upon  them,  when  they  were  seen  for  the  first  time 
by  Christian  eyes;  and  so  on  to  the  crowning  splendors  of 
Guadalupe  and  Dominique,  the  little  caravels  held  their 
way.  For  700  miles  they  had  to  sail,  before  the  broken 
hearted  man  upon  their  decks  could  look  out  over  the  blue 
waters  without  seeing  some  tangible  evidence  of  the  great 


THE    TRIUMPH  OF  INTRIGUE.  395 

deeds  he  had  done.  Only  when  the  hazy  outlines  of  the 
last  of  the  Caribs'  islands  had  sunk  from  view  was  Colum 
bus  free  from  the  associations  of  his  achievements, —  and 
even  then  he  had  about  him  that  Ocean  Sea  whose  first 
Admiral  he  had  been.  With  what  a  poignant  sting  must  his 
mind  have  reverted  to  that  swelling  verse  of  Seneca's,  of 
which  he  had  made  such  proud  use  in  earlier  days,  when 
he  claimed  so  boldly  to  be  able  to  "break  the  bonds  of 
Ocean  "  if  he  had  but  three  small  ships!  He  had  now  but 
to  stir  a  foot,  and  the  clank  of  iron  preached  a  whole  homily 
on  the  vanity  of  life.  What  a  mockery  the  whole  thing 
was,  at  best.  The  acclamations  of  the  simple  islanders 
of  Guanahani,  who  saw  in  his  bearded  followers  the 
messengers  of  Heaven;  the  vivas  of  the  crowded  street, 
in  Seville  and  Barcelona;  the  studied  attentions  of  King, 
Queen,  and  Court;  the  victories  over  heathen  warriors 
and  Christian  rebels  in  Hispaniola;  the  persistent  battle 
with,  and  final  conquest  of,  disease,  starvation,  and  danger; 
the  voyages  into  the  unknown  South;  the  adding  of  an 
empire  to  the  possessions  of  his  sovereigns, —  what  did 
all  these  amount  to?  The  fetters  on  his  ankles  weighed  far 
more. 

"  If  my  grievance  against  the  world  is  a  new  one,  its 
fashion  of  maltreating  mankind  is  old."  So  did  Columbus 
open  the  letter  in  which  he  made  his  protest  against  his 
bonds.  It  was  addressed  neither  to  King  nor  Queen,  but 
to  Dona  Juana  de  la  Torres,  sister  of  that  Antonio  de  Torres 
who  had  so  often  commanded  the  squadrons  bound  to  or 
from  the  Indies.  The  choice  of  his  correspondent  was  due 
to  her  intimate  relations  with  Queen  Isabella,  and  to  his 
confidence  in  her  effective  use  of  his  communication.  His 
latest  appeals  to  their  Majesties  in  person  had  been  an 
swered  by  the  appointment  of  Bobadilla,  and  it  is  not 
strange  that  in  seeking  another  method  of  approaching 
them  he  used  the  influential  friendship  of  the  Torres  family. 
The  customs  of  the  Court  were  not  unknown  to  him.  What 
he  might  write  to  Dona  Juana  could  reach  the  Queen's 
hands  without  the  knowledge  of  Fonseca  or  other  enemies. 
Once  before  the  Queen,  he  trusted  to  his  simple  appeal  to 


396        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

revive  her  recollections  of  his  services  and  her  sense  of 
justice. 

*'  I  came  with  such  devoted  affection  to  serve  these  Princes," 
he  writes,  "  and  have  served  them  with  a  devotion  the  equal  of 
which  has  never  been  seen  or  heard  of.  Our  Lord  has  made  me 
the  messenger  of  that  new  heaven  and  new  earth  of  which  he 
spoke  by  St.  John  in  the  Apocalypse  and  by  the  mouth  of 
Isaiah,  and  has  shown  me  where  to  find  it.  Among  all  others 
there  was  skepticism,  but  to  the  Queen,  my  sovereign  Lady,  He 
gave  the  spirit  of  comprehension  and  great  courage,  making  her 
the  inheritor  of  it  all  as  though  she  were  His  beloved  and  cher 
ished  daughter.  I  went  to  take  possession  of  all  this  in  her 
royal  name.  .  .  .  Seven  years  were  passed  in  discussing  this 
enterprise  and  nine  in  its  performance,  during  which  time  deeds 
were  done  of  signal  excellence  and  worthy  of  all  remembrance. 
Of  their  extent  no  one  can  form  an  idea.  I  returned,  and  I  do 
not  hesitate  to  say  that  there  is  no  one  so  low  that  he  does  not 
plan  to  insult  me.  The  world  looks  upon  him  as  virtuous  who 
is  not  willing  to  do  the  same.  If  I  had  stolen  the  Indies,  or  the 
continent  which  lies  in  front  of  them  (about  which  there  is  now 
some  talk  at  the  seat  of  St.  Peter)  1  and  given  them  to  the 
Moors,  I  could  not  be  shown  in  all  Spain  any  one  so  unfriendly 
to  me  as  is  the  Queen.  Who  could  have  supposed  this  where 
always  such  magnanimity  has  been  shown  ?  " 

The  allusion  to  the  change  of  feeling  apparent  in  the 
Queen  naturally  raises  the  question  of  Ferdinand's  motives 
for  misjudging  him. 

"  I  thought  that  this  recent  voyage  to  Paria  would  reconcile 
him  somewhat  by  reason  of  the  discovery  of  pearls,  and  also 
the  finding  of  the  new  gold  mines  in  Hispaniola.  I  left  orders 
with  the  natives  to  gather  together  the  pearls  and  to  fish  for 
more  and  agreed  to  return  and  get  them  later  on :  in  my  belief 
they  would  have  secured  a  bushel  of  them.  If  I  did  not  write 
this  to  their  Majesties,  it  is  because  I  wished  to  have  the  same 
amount  of  gold  gathered  before  informing  them,  but  this  resulted 
as  have  so  many  other  things.  If  I  had  sought  my  own  advan 
tage  and  allowed  Hispaniola  to  be  ruined,  or  if  my  privileges 
and  contracts  had  been  respected,  I  should  have  lost  neither 
those  treasures  nor  my  honor.'' 

1  Alluding,  apparently,  to  the  proposed  Bull  extending  the  Spanish 
jurisdiction  to  the  mainland  discovered  by  Columbus  and  explored  by 
Hojeda,  Pinzon,  Guerra,  etc.  The  passage  is  obscure. 


THE    TRIUMPH  OF  INTRIGUE. 


397 


He  then  recites  his  conflicts  with  the  insurgent  Indians, 
Roldan,  Hojeda,  and  Moxica.  Speaking  of  the  hanging  of 
the  latter,  he  writes :  — 

"  I  had  determined  not  to  touch  a  hair  of  any  one's  head,  but 
this  man,  although  it  cost  me  tears,  it  was  impossible  to  spare  as 
I  had  intended.  To  my  own  brother  I  should  not  have  done 
otherwise,  had  he  proposed  to  murder  me  and  wrest  from  me 
the  government  which  my  King  and  Queen  had  entrusted  to  my 
charge." 

Referring  to  the  arrival  of  Bobadilla,  he  gives  a  summary 
of  his  own  attitude  on  learning  of  it :  — 

"  Six  months  before,  I  was  already  prepared  to  go  to  their 
Majesties  with  the  good  tidings  of  the  finding  of  the  new  mines 
and  to  escape  from  governing  such  abandoned  people,  who  fear 
neither  God  nor  King  nor  Queen,  and  are  full  of  strife  and  evil 
deeds.  I  was  ready  to  pay  them  off  with  600,000  maravedies, 
for  which  I  had  4,000,000  due  me  from  the  tithes,  and  more, 
without  counting  the  third  part  of  the  gold.  Before  leaving 
Spain  I  begged  their  Majesties  many  times  to  send  out,  at  my 
expense,  some  one  who  should  be  charged  with  the  administra 
tion  of  justice,  and  after  I  learned  of  the  Judge's  rebellion  I 
asked  yet  again  either  for  some  additional  men,  or  at  the  least  for 

some  servant  of  the  royal  household  with  letters  of  authority, 

for  my  own  credit  is  such  that  although  I  should  build  churches 
and  hospitals,  they  would  always  be  called  dens  of  thieves.  At 
length  their  Majesties  acted,  but  in  a  way  very  opposite  to  that 
demanded  by  the  situation.  Let  it  pass,  since  it  is  as  they  wish. 
I  was  out  there  [in  Hispaniola]  for  two  years  without  being  able 
to  secure  a  single  provision  in  favor  of  myself  or  of  the  people 
who  went  there,  but  this  new  man  brought  a  chest  full  of  them. 
...  If  their  Majesties  should  be  pleased  to  disprove  a  report 
which  is  common  among  those  familiar  with  my  trials,  —  that 
greater  harm  has  been  done  me  by  the  evil  tongues  of  men  than 
my  long  service  in  augmenting  their  glory  and  royal  estate  has 
been  able  to  shield  me  from,  —  it  would  be  a  charity  and  I  would 
be  restored  to  my  rank.  Matters  were  at  this  point  when  the 
Commander  Bobadilla1  arrived  at  San  Domingo.  I  was  in  the 
Vega  and  the  Adelantado  in  Xaragua,  where  this  Adrian  de 
Moxica  had  made  headway  at  first;  but  everything  was  now 

1  He  was  Commendador  or  K.C.  of  the  military  Order  of  Calatrava. 


398        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE   ADMIRAL. 

quiet,  the  country  prosperous  and  peace  reigning.  The  second 
day  after  his  arrival  he  proclaimed  himself  Governor,  named  his 
officers,  and  exercised  authority  ;  declared  the  remission  of  tithes 
and  taxes  on  gold  as  well  as  on  everything  else  for  20  years,  — 
which,  as  I  have  said,  is  for  a  man's  lifetime,  —  announced  that 
he  had  come  to  pay  everybody,  although  the  people  had  not  up 
to  that  time  performed  their  duty ;  and  openly  asserted  that  he 
was  going  to  send  me  and  my  brothers  away  in  chains,  as  he  has 
done,  and  that  neither  I  nor  any  of  my  race  should  ever  return  ; 
besides  saying  a  thousand  other  indecent  and  unmannerly  things 
about  me.  All  this  he  did  on  the  second  day  of  his  presence, 
I  being  absent  and  knowing  nothing  either  of  him  or  of  his 
coming.  Moreover,  he  took  a  number  of  their  Majesties'  letters, 
of  which  he  had  a  large  quantity  signed  in  blank,  and  sent  them 
to  Roldan  and  his  followers  filled  out  with  privileges  and  allot 
ments  of  Indians.  To  me  he  sent  neither  letter  nor  messenger, 
nor  has  he  done  so  until  this  day.  Let  your  Excellency  reflect : 
what  would  any  one  who  was  in  my  position  think  of  such  a 
proceeding,  —  honoring  and  rewarding  him  who  had  striven  to 
deprive  their  Majesties  of  their  possessions  and  had  done  so 
much  damage  and  harm,  and  humiliating  him  who  had,  at  the 
cost  of  such  sacrifices,  defended  it  all?  When  I  learned  of  this, 
I  supposed  that  it  would  be  only  another  case  like  that  of  Hojeda, 
or  one  of  the  others  who  followed  him ;  I  was  relieved  when  I 
heard  from  the  priests  that  their  Majesties  had  indeed  sent  him 
out.  I  wrote  him  that  his  coming  was  at  a  fortunate  time  ;  that 
I  was  already  disposed  to  go  to  Spain,  and  had  ordered  an 
auction  of  all  I  had ;  that  he  should  not  be  hasty  in  proclaiming 
these  remissions ;  that  I  would  deliver  over  to  him  the  adminis 
tration  and  government  as  smooth  as  the  palm  of  my  hand  ;  and 
I  wrote  the  same  to  the  priests  who  were  with  him.  Neither  he 
nor  they  replied  a  word ;  instead,  he  assumed  a  warlike  tone, 
and  bestowed  rewards  upon  all  who  went  to  the  town  and  swore 
allegiance  to  him  as  Governor,  —  for  twenty  years,  they  told  me. 
As  soon  as  I  heard  of  this  affair  of  the  remissions,  I  thought  to 
correct  a  mistake  so  grave,  and  that  he  would  be  pleased,  for  he 
had  granted  them  without  reason  or  necessity,  giving  to  idle 
vagabonds  a  boon  too  great  even  for  respectable  settlers  who 
had  their  wives  and  children  with  them.  Therefore  I  published 
both  by  speech  and  by  letters  that  he  could  not  make  such  use 
of  his  powers,  because  mine  were  the  more  authoritative ;  and  I 
reminded  the  people  of  the  remissions  offered  by  Juan  Aguado. 
All  this  I  did  to  gain  time,  so  that  their  Majesties  might  receive 
news  of  the  real  state  of  the  island  and  should  have  cause  to 


THE    TRIUMPH   OF  INTRIGUE.  399 

send  out  such  orders  concerning  it  as  should  be  for  their  interests. 
It  is,  in  truth,  idle  to  proclaim  such  remissions  in  the  Indies. 
For  those  settlers  who  have  received  their  locations,  it  is  worth 
less  ;  they  were  given  the  best  lands,  which,  by  the  end  of  their 
four  years  of  service,  will  be  worth  200,000  maravedies  at  the 
least,  without  their  owners  striking  a  pick  into  them.  .  .  .  I  had 
arranged  with  these  settlers  that  they  should  pay  the  third  of  the 
gold  extracted  and  the  tithes  on  other  products;  this  I  did  at 
their  own  solicitation  and  they  looked  upon  it  as  an  act  of  great 
liberality  on  the  part  of  their  Majesties.  When  I  heard  that 
they  were  neglecting  the  payment  I  called  them  to  account,  and 
they  supposed  that  he  [Bobadilla]  would  act  as  I  did ;  but  it 
happened  contrariwise.  He  incited  them  against  me,  saying 
that  I  wished  to  take  from  them  what  their  Majesties  were  willing 
they  should  keep,  and  he  tried  to  throw  me  on  my  back.  This 
he  did,  and  then  proposed  that  the  settlers  should  write  to  their 
Majesties  praying  that  they  would  not  reinstate  me  in  my  office, 
—  and  so  pray  I,  both  for  myself  and  for  all  belonging  to  me,  as 
long  as  there  is  not  another  population.  Besides  this,  he  ar 
ranged  with  them  for  investigations  of  such  baseness  that  Hell 
itself  never  knew  of  their  equal.  Our  Lord,  who  succored  Daniel 
and  the  three  children  with  such  might  and  wisdom  and  such  an 
exhibition  of  power,  can,  if  he  so  pleases,  release  me  with  his 
will  alone.  I  myself  would  have  known  how  to  remedy  both 
this  and  all  the  rest  which  has  been  mentioned  or  which  has 
occurred  since  I  came  to  the  Indies,  if  my  conscience  had  allowed 
me  to  seek  my  own  advantage  and  it  had  been  honorable  for  me 
to  do  so.  But  the  duty  of  maintaining  justice  and  adding  to  the 
dominions  of  their  Majesties  up  to  this  time  holds  me  fast.  Yet 
now  so  much  gold  is  being  found  that  there  is  a  difference  of 
opinion  as  to  whether  the  greater  profit  lies  in  going  on  a  plun 
dering  expedition,  or  going  to  the  mines.  For  a  woman  100 
ducats  are  as  freely  given  as  for  a  plantation,  and  the  thing  is 
common.  There  are  many  dealers  \vho  make  a  business  of  buy 
ing  young  Indian  girls  ;  all  ages  bring  a  good  price. 

"  I  repeat  that,  in  saying  that  Bobadilla  had  no  power  to  grant 
remissions,  I  was  doing  just  what  he  wanted  me  to  do,  although 
my  only  object  was  to  gain  time  for  their  Majesties  to  hear  from 
the  island  and  send  again  to  direct  what  they  deemed  best.  I 
repeat,  that  the  influence  of  the  misrepresentations  of  those 
I  thwarted  has  done  me  more  harm  than  my  services  have 
availed  me  for  good  —  an  evil  precedent  this,  both  for  the  present 
and  the  future.  I  swear  that  a  great  number  of  men  have  gone 
to  the  Indies  who  do  not  deserve  a  cup  of  water  at  the  hands  of 
either  God  or  man,  and  now  they  propose  to  go  back.  Boba- 


400        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

dilla  set  them  all  against  me,  and  he  appears  from  his  actions 
and  manner  to  have  come  out  already  disposed  and  eager  for 
this ;  at  least  it  is  said  that  he  spent  much  in  order  to  come  out 
on  this  mission ;  I  do  not  know  any  more  than  I  hear.  I  have 
never  heard  before  of  an  investigator  going  to  the  rebels  and 
taking  their  evidence  as  witnesses  against  him  who  ruled  them, 
and  so  with  others  entitled  to  no  credence  and  unworthy  of  it. 
If  their  Majesties  should  send  and  hold  a  general  investigation, 
I  declare  to  you  that  they  will  be  astonished  that  the  island  does 
not  sink  [beneath  its  weight  of  iniquity] . 

"  Your  Excellency  shall  remember,  I  am  sure,  that  when  the 
tempest  drove  me  into  Lisbon  without  sails,  I  was  falsely  accused 
of  having  gone  there  to  deliver  the  Indies  over  to  the  King  [of 
Portugal] .  Later  on  their  Majesties  knew  the  truth,  and  that 
it  was  all  said  from  malice.  Ignorant  as  I  may  be,  I  do  not 
know  of  any  one  who  considers  me  so  dull  that  I  do  not  realize 
that,  even  if  the  Indies  were  my  own  property,  I  could  not  retain 
them  without  the  aid  of  some  Prince.  If  this  be  so,  where  could 
I  find  greater  support  and  certainty  of  not  being  cast  from  them 
than  with  the  King  and  Queen  our  sovereigns,  who  have  raised 
me  from  nothing  to  so  great  honor,  and  who  are  the  most 
puissant  monarchs  both  by  land  and  sea  in  the  whole  world? 
Their  Majesties  know  how  I  have  served  them,  and  will  respect 
my  privileges  'and  grants ;  and  if  any  one  should  infringe  them 
their  Majesties  will  restore  them  to  me  with  increase,  —  as  was 
done  at  the  time  of  Juan  Aguado,  —  and  will  command  that 
much  honor  be  shown  me.  As  I  have  just  said,  their  Majesties 
have  received  benefits  at  my  hands  and  have  my  sons  among 
their  attendants,  and  this  condition  of  affairs  could  not  obtain 
with  any  other  Prince,  for  where  no  love  is  all  else  fails. 

"  I  have  related  how  I  wrote  to  the  friars  and  set  out  at  once 
entirely  alone,  both  because  most  of  my  people  were  with  the 
Adelantado,  and  in  order  to  disarm  any  suspicion  he  [Boba- 
dilla]  might  have.  As  soon  as  he  heard  of  this  he  seized  Don 
Diego  and  sent  him,  loaded  with  irons,  on  board  a  caravel.  As 
soon  as  I  arrived,  he  did  the  same,  and  afterwards,  when  the 
Adelantado  arrived,  treated  him  in  like  manner.  I  neither  held 
further  converse  with  him,  nor  did  he  permit  any  one  to  speak 
with  me,  to  the  present  day ;  and  I  solemnly  swear  that  I  cannot 
imagine  why  I  was  arrested.  ...  I  have  been  deeply  wronged 
in  that  an  inquisitor  has  been  sent  out  against  me  who  is  assured 
that  if  the  report  he  makes  about  me  is  very  serious  he  will 
remain  as  Governor  in  my  stead.  Would  that  it  had  been  Our 
Lord's  will  that  their  Majesties  had  sent  him  or  some  one  else 
two  years  ago ;  because  I  know  that  I  should  now  be  free  from 


THE    TRIUMPH  OF  INTRIGUE.  401 

reproach  and  calumny,  and  my  honor  should  neither  have  been 
taken  from  me  nor  would  I  have  lost  it.  God  is  just  and  will 
sooner  or  later  make  known  why  and  how  this  was  done. 

"  The  news  of  the  gold  which  I  said  above  I  would  relate  are, 
that  on  Christmas  Day  [1499],  I  being  in  great  distress,  set 
upon  by  the  rebellious  Christians  and  Indians  and  on  the  point 
of  abandoning  everything  and  escaping,  if  possible,  with  my 
life,  Our  Lord  comforted  me  miraculously,  and  said :  '  Courage  ! 
do  not  fear  or  lose  heart.  I  will  remedy  all.  The  seven  years 
of  the  golden  period  are  not  yet  passed,  and  in  this  and  in  the 
other  matter  I  will  give  you  relief.'  That  same  day  I  learned  of 
80  leagues  of  territory  throughout  all  of  which  there  were  mines 
of  gold.  The  opinion  concerning  them  now  is  that  it  is  all  one 
mine.  Some  men  have  collected  120  ducats  in  one  day,  others 
90,  and  even  250  have  been  found.  With  some  from  50  to  70, 
and  with  many  from  20  to  50  are  considered  a  good  day's  yield, 
and  many  are  continuing  to  gain  this.  The  most  ordinary  return 
is  from  6  to  12,  and  whoever  secures  less  than  this  is  not  satis 
fied.  These  mines  appear  also  to  be  like  those  others,  which  do 
not  yield  the  same  each  day ;  but  both  the  mines  and  the  miners 
are  new.  The  general  opinion  is  that  even  if  all  Spain  were  to 
go  there  the  most  ignorant  person  could  gather  not  less  than 
one  or  two  ducats,  even  when  all  is  so  new.  To  be  sure,  this 
is  done  by  those  who  have  an  Indian  to  help  them,  but  the 
matter  depends  on  the  Christian.  See  what  kind  of  judgment 
Bobadilla  showed  in  giving  up  everything  for  nothing,  and 
abandoning  4,000,000  of  maravedies  in  tithes,  without  cause  or 
necessity,  and  without  first  consulting  their  Majesties.  And  this 
is  not  the  only  harm  that  has  been  done. 

"  I  know  that  my  errors  have  not  been  committed  for  the  pur 
pose  of  doing  evil,  and  I  believe  that  their  Majesties  are  con 
vinced  that  this  is  true.  I  see  and  know  that  even  toward 
those  who  intentionally  injure  them  they  show  clemency,  and 
therefore  feel  well  assured  that  they  will  show  far  greater  and 
more  generous  forgiveness  toward  me,  who  have  fallen  into 
mistake  through  ignorance  and  the  force  of  circumstances,  of 
which  I  am  the  victim,  as  they  shall  learn  abundantly  hereafter ; 
and  that  they  will  regard  my  labors  and  realize  each  day  how 
they  have  been  benefited  thereby.  They  will  weigh  the  whole 
matter  in  the  scales,  as  we  are  told  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  the 
good  and  the  evil  shall  be  weighed  at  the  Judgment  Day.  If, 
however,  they  direct  that  some  one  else  shall  judge  me,  —  which 
I  do  not  anticipate,  —  and  that  this  be  done  by  a  report  obtained 
from  the  Indies,  most  humbly  do  I  entreat  them  to  send  there 

26 


402        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

two  persons  of  integrity  and  reputation,  at  my  cost,  who  shall 
very  easily  discover  that  5  marks  of  gold  can  be  found  in  4 
hours  :  whether  they  do  this  or  not,  it  is  very  needful  that  some 
provision  be  made  in  the  premises. 

"  As  soon  as  the  Commander  arrived  at  San  Domingo  he 
took  up  his  quarters  in  my  house,  and  treated  everything  he 
found  as  belonging  to  himself.  Let  it  pass  ;  perhaps  he  needed 
it !  Nevertheless,  never  did  pirate  thus  treat  merchant  whom 
he  had  seized.  I  have  the  greatest  grievance  against  him  by 
reason  of  my  writings,  all  of  which  he  took  in  the  same  manner, 
so  that  I  have  never  been  able  to  secure  a  single  one ;  and  those 
which  would  be  of  the  most  advantage  in  my  defence  are  the 
ones  he  has  hidden  away  the  most  carefully.  Behold  what  a 
righteous  and  honest  Judge  !  .  .  .  God,  Our  Lord,  is  over  all 
with  His  power  and  wisdom,  as  always  ;  He  punishes  all  offences, 
and  especially  the  injuries  committed  by  the  ungrateful." 

Whether  Columbus  wrote  this  letter  on  board  the  caravel, 
as  some  affirm,  or  immediately  upon  reaching  Cadiz,  as 
others  think,  is  not  material.  A  rough  draft  of  it,  in  his 
handwriting,1  which  is  in  existence,  seems  to  indicate  that 
it  was  at  least  prepared  during  the  passage,  although  it  may 
have  been  written  out  and  expanded  when  he  arrived  in 
Spain.  As  it  stands,  it  is  his  defence  against  the  outrages 
perpetrated  by  Bobadilla  and  the  too  great  readiness  of 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella  to  give  heed  to  the  allegations  of 
the  Admiral's  enemies.  Disconnected  and  often  obscure, 
to  a  degree  unusual  even  in  his  hastiest  productions,  it 
reflects  the  mental  stress  to  which  he  had  been  subjected, 
and  the  agitation  with  which  he  looked  forward  to  meeting 
his  sovereigns.  His  modern  accusers  see  in  it  the  evi 
dences  of  a  "much-vexed  conscience,"  charge  him  with 
deliberate  misrepresentation,  and  with  an  "aberration  of 
mind"  resulting  from  his  "besetting  cupidity."  They 

1  This  draft  is  notable  by  reason  of  two  personal  statements.  Colum 
bus  therein  speaks  of  having  "  lost  my  youth  "  in  the  enterprise  of  the 
Indies,  and  of  having  "  left  wife  and  sons  "  to  prosecute  it.  The  first 
allusion  is  incompatible  with  the  generally  accepted  theory  as  to  his 
advanced  age,  and  the  second  to  the  equally  common  assumption  that 
his  connection  with  Dofia  Beatrix  de  Enriquez  was  illicit.  We  have 
elsewhere  given  our  reasons  for  believing  him  to  have  been  younger 
than  most  historians  assume,  and  for  considering  his  relations  with 
Dona  Beatriz  as  quasi  regular,  as  viewed  by  his  contemporaries. 


THE    TRIUMPH  OF  INTRIGUE.  403 

reproach  him  with  the  glaring  inconsistency  between  his 
demand  to  be  judged  as  the  commander  of  a  conquered 
province,  and  his  enthusiastic  laudations  in  his  first  letters 
of  the  pacific  and  amiable  disposition  of  the  Indians.  If 
it  were  worth  while  to  treat  seriously  a  Criticism  whose  car 
dinal  principle  is  a  determined  ignoring  of  the  fact  that 
the  world  moves,  and  that  human  development  is  not  un 
varying  in  all  ages  and  under  all  conditions,  we  might 
dispute  this  proposition.  But  the  letter,  read  in  the  light 
of  its  origin  and  circumstances,  speaks  for  itself,  with  all 
its  transparent  artifices,  its  sincerity  of  purpose,  and  its 
sense  of  helplessness.  The  man  who  wrote  it  was,  most 
assuredly,  not  the  man  of  1492.  He  "knew  his  world"  as 
he  had  never  known  it  before.  If  he  had  lost  his  illusions 
concerning  the  Edenic  guilelessness  of  the  inhabitants  of 
his  new  world,  he  had  fared  no  better  in  his  estimate  of 
"the  King  and  Queen,  our  sovereigns."  He  had  learned 
that  all  his  high  hopes, —  his  fantastic  dreams,  if  you  so 
please, —  about  the  destiny  of  these  wonderful  lands,  were 
subordinated  by  his  royal  master,  if  not  by  the  Queen  as 
well,  to  the  practical  question, —  How  much  revenue  will 
your  new  world  yield  us? 

The  two  caravels  arrived  at  Cadiz  on  the  25th  of  Novem 
ber.  The  Court  was  at  Granada,  deeply  engaged  with  the 
subjugation  of  the  rebellious  Moors.  Vallejo  lost  no  time 
in  reporting  his  arrival  to  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  and 
even  stretched  his  sympathy  for  the  Admiral  so  far  as  to 
permit  the  latter' s  letters  to  reach  Granada  before  Boba- 
dilla's  official  despatches.  The  news  that  "  their  Admiral  " 
had  been  sent  to  Spain  in  a  felon's  chains  is  supposed  to 
have  grievously  wounded  the  sensibilities  of  both  monarchs; 
perhaps  the  courageous  intervention  of  Dona  Juana  Torres, 
and  their  own  quick  realization  that  Bobadilla  had  gone 
too  far,  were  more  nearly  the  true  moving  cause.  At  all 
events,  the  King  and  Queen  instantly  despatched  orders 
that  Columbus  and  his  brothers  should  be  released  from 
confinement,  directed  that  they  should  come  immediately 
to  Granada,  and  sent  him  a  large  sum  of  money  to  travel 
in  a  state  becoming  his  dignities.  Verily  the  ways  of 
princes  are  past  fathoming. 


XX. 

THE   AMEND   POLITIC. 

IN  that  same  city  of  Granada  where,  eight  years  before, 
Columbus  had  entered  into  his  partnership  with  Ferdi 
nand  and  Isabella  for  the  discovery  and  acquisition  of  the 
unknown  lands  he  maintained  would  be  found  beyond  the 
Western  Ocean,  he  now  knelt  before  the  same  monarchs 
and  pointed  to  the  chains  their  deputy  had  fastened  upon 
him  in  the  Empire  he  had  given  to  Spain.  That  his  forti 
tude  should  have  deserted  him  at  the  last  moment,  and  sobs 
for  a  time  prevented  the  ceremonious  utterances  due  from 
him  to  his  sovereigns,  is  not  surprising;  that  they  should 
likewise  have  shown  some  emotion  at  the  sight  of  such  a 
servant  in  such  a  plight,  saves  to  their  memory  the  benefit 
of  a  doubt  concerning  their  participation  in  Bobadilla's 
excesses.  Assisting  him  to  rise,  the  King  and  Queen,  with 
extreme  affability,  entered  upon  the  easy  task  of  satisfying 
the  Admiral  that  his  wrongs  had  their  indignant  sympathy, 
and  that  generous  and  speedy  restitution  should  be  made 
him  for  all  his  sufferings.  He  in  turn  entered  upon  a 
defence  —  doubtless  both  prolix  and  confused  —  of  his 
course,  protesting  that  his  single  aim  had  ever  been  to 
augment  their  glory  and  extend  their  dominions,  and  that 
his  errors,  where  such  had  been  committed,  had  their  origin 
only  in  a  devoted  zeal  for  their  service.  This  they  were  as 
ready  to  believe  as  he  to  accept  their  assurances  of  con 
tinued  affection  and  confidence,  and  the  painful  interview 
ended  in  a  restoration  of,  at  least,  apparent  cordiality.  It 
was  sincere  on  the  Admiral's  part,  for  he  had  a  childish 
404 


THE  AMEND   POLITIC.  405 

faith  in  his  royal  patrons.  Isabella,  too,  was  no  doubt  in 
earnest,  with  a  mental  reservation  as  to  her  intentions 
regarding  the  future  government  of  the  Western  World. 
Ferdinand,  not  wholly  shameless,  may  have  regretted  the 
manner  in  which  his  selfish  disregard  of  the  Admiral's  rights 
had  been  executed,  but  did  not  swerve  for  a  moment  from 
the  policy  he  had  adopted.  Bent  upon  breaking  the  author 
ity  of  Columbus  and  cancelling  his  rights,  the  King  felt  a 
merely  passing  compassion  for  the  consequences  to  his 
victim.  If  the  latter  was  blind  enough  to  trust  him  still, 
so  much  the  better. 

Columbus  and  his  brothers  left  the  royal  presence  as  free 
men  after  this  audience  of  the  zyth  of  December,  1500. 
That  and  some  partial  provision  for  his  pecuniary  needs 
were  the  immediate  extent  of  the  royal  grace.  Despoiled 
of  rank  and  estate,  thrust  aside  as  a  broken  tool  for  which 
no  further  use  could  be  found,  the  Admiral  of  the  Ocean 
Sea  and  Viceroy  of  the  Indies  found  himself  occupying  the 
pitiful  position  of  a  needy  suppliant  at  a  Court  where  he 
was  considered  little  better  than  an  encumbrance.  The 
very  magnitude  and  unassailable  justice  of  his  demands 
made  them  the  more  irksome  to  those  who  had  wronged 
him,  while  the  dogged  persistence  with  which  he  maintained 
his  rights  compelled  an  attention  both  their  Majesties  and 
their  officers  would  fain  have  refused.  Driven  to  choose 
between  final  repudiation  of  his  claims  and  diplomatic  pro 
crastination,  they  preferred  the  latter  as  more  congenial  to 
their  scheme  of  policy.  Nothing  was  simpler  than  to  put 
off  with  smooth  assurances  this  credulous  explorer,  and  such 
were  lavished  upon  him  without  stint.  Believing  firmly, 
as  he  did,  in  the  sincerity  of  his  sovereigns,  and  possessed 
of  overwhelming  evidence  as  to  the  soundness  of  his  pre 
tensions,  Columbus  awaited  the  royal  verdict  with  a  patience 
born  of  long  familiarity  with  the  ways  of  the  Court.  If 
he  had  not  now  the  influence  needful  to  obtain  a  speedy 
recognition  of  his  position,  he  did  not  doubt  the  certainty  of 
ultimate  success,  and  prosecuted  his  cause  with  untiring 
solicitude. 

Had  he  reached  Spain  six  months  earlier,  or  six  months 


406       THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

later,  Columbus  might  have  received  a  consideration  more 
befitting  his  transcendent  services  than  was  in  fact  accorded 
him.  Arriving  toward  the  end  of  the  year  1500,  he  was 
but  one  explorer  the  more  returning  from  the  Indies,  one 
whose  tale  of  discovery  was  two  years  old,  and  was  backed 
by  no  great  tokens  of  success.  The  idle  and  curious  of 
Cadiz  and  Seville  had  that  year  surfeited  on  stories  of 
adventures  beyond  the  Ocean  Sea.  Guerra  had  sailed  into 
port  in  April  with  his  huge  store  of  pearls  from  the  coasts 
of  Paria;  Hojeda  had  followed  in  June  with  his  cargo  of 
slaves;  Lepe  was  only  a  few  days  behind  him  with  his 
account  of  a  voyage  of  hundreds  of  leagues  along  the  shores 
of  the  new  continent;  Vincente  Yanez  Pinzon  returned  in 
September,  bringing  the  report  of  still  further  wanderings 
below  the  Equator,  and  of  the  finding  of  the  gigantic 
Amazon.  All  these  were  far  more  tangible  and  stirring 
achievements  to  the  vulgar  mind  than  was  the  mere  finding 
of  the  southern  continent  two  years  before.  That  the  later 
exploits  would  never  have  been  undertaken  but  for  the 
Admiral's  lead;  that  to  the  discoverer  belongs  a  glory 
greater  than  that  awarded  to  all  his  imitators  combined, 
were  reflections  little  likely  to  disturb  the  burghers  and 
merchants  of  Andalusia.  They  were  as  keen  as  any  modern 
politician  to  realize  when  a  former  hero  became  a  "  back 
number,"  and  to  his  lost  prestige  at  Court  Columbus  had 
now  to  add  the  loss  of  popular  interest.  The  newer  men 
jostled  him  out  of  the  public's  memory  until  he  was  to  all, 
save  a  very  limited  circle,  only  another  and  earlier  finder 
of  western  islands.  Almost  any  man  who  could  sail  a 
caravel  might  claim  to  be  as  much. 

There  is  between  the  applause  of  the  multitude  and  the 
appreciation  of  the  wise  a  difference  like  that  which  lies 
between  a  blinding  winter  gale  in  the  "  roaring  forties  "  and 
the  flow  of  the  Trades  over  a  moonlit  sea  between  the 
Tropics.  Columbus  knew  the  distinction  and  prized  the 
less  boisterous  and  more  enduring  fame.  Possessed  of  a 
quiet  and  immovable  faith  in  the  final  verdict  of  the  Future 
upon  his  deeds,  he  was  never  distressed  by  the  defection 
of  the  mob's  opinion.  Apart  from  his  tenacious  assertion 


THE  AMEND  POLITIC.  407 

that  the  performances  of  his  imitators  were  a  gross  infrac 
tion  of  his  vested  privileges,  he  did  not  make  any  protest 
against  the  credit  they  derived  therefrom :  on  the  contrary, 
he  quickly  saw  how  their  more  extensive  local  explorations 
might  serve  to  further  his  own  larger  plans  of  world-inves 
tigation.  But  there  had  been  two  voyages  made  during  his 
absence  from  Spain  which  struck  at  the  very  foundation  of 
his  fame  as  an  explorer.  Sebastian  Cabot,  for  the  English, 
had  crossed  again  the  northern  seas  in  1498,  and  run  down 
the  shores  of  a  great  continent  lying  north  of  Cuba;  and 
Vasco  da  Gama,  for  the  Portuguese,  had  successfully  doubled 
Good  Hope  and  returned,  in  July,  1499,  with  the  glory  of 
having  found  an  eastern  route  for  the  coveted  Spice  Islands 
and  India.  If,  on  the  one  hand,  Hojeda,  Pinzon,  and 
their  compeers  had  proved  beyond  all  cavil  the  incalculable 
importance  of  his  own  lately  discovered  southern  continent, 
on  the  other,  Cabot  and  da  Gama  threatened  to  shut  off 
Spain  from  farther  acquisition  in  the  North  and  in  the 
remoter  West.  To  have  his  grandiose  schemes  of  universal 
western  exploration  thus  reduced  to  the  dimensions  of  the 
parallels  of  latitude  and  meridians  of  longitude  already 
partly  covered,  was  to  crush  them  almost  in  embryo.  Here 
was  food  for  deep  study  and  meditation,  and  matter  which 
transcended  in  immediate  interest  even  the  absorbing 
question  of  his  assaulted  prerogatives. 

When  we  recall  the  feverish  ardor  with  which  the  great 
powers  of  our  day  wrangled  and  disputed  in  Berlin  a  few 
years  ago  over  the  partition  of  the  African  wilderness,1  we 
may  feel  in  some  degree  the  impatience  with  which  Colum 
bus  learned,  day  by  day,  of  the  encroachment  of  rival 
leaders  upon  the  vast  regions  he  looked  upon  as  being 
almost  his  own  by  right  of  discovery.  That  he  was  deal- 

1  By  the  bye :  might  not  the  explosive  virtue  of  the  modern  critics 
of  Columbus  be  more  practically  employed  in  arousing  the  indignation 
of  Christendom  against  some  of  the  gross  injustices  perpetrated  against 
the  Africans  in  later  days?  Or  is  the  good  old  American  plea,  that  the 
color  of  their  skin  bars  their  standing  in  court,  still  a  sufficient  reason 
for  turning  our  backs  on  their  imminent  wrongs  and  venting  our  anath 
emas  on  the  lost  bones  of  the  mediaeval  sinner  instead? 


408        THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE   ADMIRAL. 

ing,  in  these  thoughts,  with  a  full  one-half  of  the  Earth's 
surface,  did  not  impress  him  as  extravagant.  There  had 
been  no  second  half  to  the  globe  until  he  had  demonstrated 
the  fact.  Whether  one  continent  or  more  bounded  the 
Western  Ocean  was  not  germane  to  the  question  at  issue : 
all  that  lay  beyond  the  line  marked  by  the  Holy  Father 
belonged  to  Spain  until,  in  sailing  ever  into  the  West,  the 
old  India  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans  should  be  reached. 
If  Cabot  had  found  land  within  those  precincts,  albeit  forty 
degrees  farther  north  than  Guanahani,  he  was  a  trespasser. 
If  Vasco  da  Gama,  in  sailing  eastward  around  the  Cape, 
had  found  a  means  of  ultimately  reaching  Cuba  and  Paria 
from  that  side  of  the  world,  he  threatened  to  turn  the  glory 
of  Spain  to  the  advantage  of  Portugal.  To  checkmate  these 
promising  projects  of  the  rivals  of  Castile,  and  preserve  the 
monopoly  of  the  New  World,  in  its  largest  sense,  to  the 
Crown  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  became  now  the  absorb 
ing  problem  with  the  man  they  had  so  ruthlessly  degraded. 
Verily  there  was  some  quality  in  this  man  other  than  that 
one  of  slave-selling,  which  he  shared  with  our  own  fathers. 
If  he  was  a  "speculator,"  his  game  was  a  hemisphere;  if 
he  indulged  in  "hallucinations,"  they  were  of  bestowing 
continents  upon  his  King  and  Queen;  if  he  was  a  "pri 
vateer,"  his  ventures  put  those  of  Alexander  to  shame.  To 
hold  him  up  as  devoured  with  vanity  of  rank  and  consumed 
by  avarice  for  ducats,  is  to  wilfully  reverse  the  lenses  of 
history.  Because  he  vigorously  claimed  his  own  in  lesser 
things,  is  no  reason  why  we  should  shut  our  eyes  to  the 
splendor  of  his  life's  aim.  Had  he  been  covetous  of  wealth 
he  could  have  had  it  as  few  before  or  since.  \Vhere  a 
Guerra  succeeded  in  obtaining  pearls  by  the  basketful,  it 
is  not  likely  that  he  need  have  failed.  The  royal  charters 
defined  and  secured  to  him  his  proportion  of  the  returns. 
It  was  not  his  business  to  collect  them,  but  to  carry 
out  his  life's-work  of  bringing  the  western  half  of  the 
world  under  the  dominion  of  his  sovereigns.  Having 
broken  down  the  barrier,  he  could  not  stand  idly  by 
while  others  rushed  in  to  seize  the  fruits  of  his  daring 
sagacity. 


THE   AMEND  POLITIC.  409 

As  he  became  more  familiar  with  the  results  of  the 
voyages  which  had  followed  his  discovery  of  Paria,  Colum 
bus  gradually  formed  a  new  theory,  destined  to  exert  a  last 
ing  influence  on  the  history  of  the  western  hemisphere. 
From  Cape  St.  Augustine,  on  the  coast  of  the  modern  Brazil, 
clear  around  to  and  beyond  the  Gulf  of  Venezuela,  the 
contour  of  the  great  southern  continent  was  now  known. 
In  the  North,  Cabot  had  traced  a  coast  line  extending  from 
the  lands  of  ice  and  snow  down  almost  to  the  latitude  of 
Cuba.  How  many  of  the  details  of  this  English  explora 
tion  were  accessible  to  Columbus  we  do  not  know;  it  is 
certain  that  he  would  encounter  no  difficulty  in  informing 
himself  minutely  as  to  the  explorations  of  the  Spanish 
voyagers.  His  own  discoveries  filled  in  the  blank  be 
tween  the  end  of  Cabot's  exploration  and  the  northern 
coasts  of  Terra  Firma  as  far  as  the  point  reached  by  Ho- 
jeda.  What  lay  west  of  Cuba  and  the  Gulf  of  Venezuela 
was,  as  yet,  a  mystery,  and  upon  this  problem  his  attention 
was  concentrated.  North  of  Cuba  an  unbroken  continent 
extended;  south  of  Paria  another  had  been  skirted  to  far 
below  the  Equator.  Between  the  two  lay  an  unexplored 
region  of  island-studded  ocean.  To  this  region  Columbus 
now  applied  the  physical  observations  he  had  recorded  in 
discussing  the  location  of  the  Earthly  Paradise,  supple 
mented  by  the  reports  of  his  imitators.  The  vast  flow  of 
fresh  water  from  the  Gulf  of  Paria  rushed  through  the 
Dragon's  Mouth  and  then  turned  westward  along  the  shores 
of  Terra  Firma.  The  immeasurable  outpouring  o.f  the  great 
river  Amazon,  lately  discovered  by  Pinzon,  turned  north 
ward  and  followed  a  similar  course.  All  the  ocean  currents 
between  the  Caribs'  islands  had  a  like  set,  and  so  did  that 
which  flowed  between  these  and  the  mainland.  So  power 
ful  was  this  westward  drift  along  the  shores  of  Hayti,  that 
he  had  been  wearied  in  fighting  it  on  both  the  northern 
and  the  southern  coasts.  As  long  ago  as  1493,  Dr.  Chanca 
had  written  that  almost  as  much  time  had  been  expended 
in  beating  against  this  current  from  Navidad  eastward  to 
Monte  Christi  as  had  been  occupied  in  the  voyage  from 
Spain.  The  direction  of  the  steadfast  prevailing  winds  was 


410        THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

also  to  the  west,  and  the  general  east-and-west  lay  of  the 
islands  pointed  to  a  long  persistence  of  the  corroding 
agency  of  the  ocean  acting  always  on  the  same  lines.  The 
straightaway  line  of  the  lately  explored  northern  shores  of 
the  new  continent  reinforced  this  view.  Ignorant  of  the 
insular  character  of  Cuba,  and  of  the  existence  of  the  mighty 
Gulf  Stream,  which,  hurrying  by  its  northern  shores,  dis 
charges  back  into  the  Atlantic  the  inflow  of  these  westerly 
currents,  Columbus  connected  all  of  these  indications  with 
the  discoveries  of  Cabot  and  da  Gama.  Since  the  Western 
Ocean  was  barred  to  the  north  by  Cabot's  land  and  to  the 
south  by  his  own  Parian  continent,  and  since  da  Gama  had 
at  least  partially  defined  the  immense  extension  of  the 
ocean  east  of  Africa,  why  should  not  the  westward-flowing 
waters  of  the  Atlantic  find  their  way  into  those  eastern  seas 
through  some  strait  which  separated  the  two  continents  of 
the  Western  World?  Were  such  the  case, —  and  nothing 
that  was  known  militated  against  the  theory, —  the  control 
of  that  passage  would  give  Spain  an  inestimable  advantage 
in  the  long  struggle  for  the  Orient's  commerce,  besides 
securing  for  her  an  easy  access  to  all  sides  of  her  new 
southern  continent.  In  all  this  argument  Columbus  still 
clung  to  the  belief  that  Cuba  and  the  country  to  the  north 
of  it  formed  together  the  easternmost  parts  of  Asia.  What 
the  southern  land  was,  if  not  the  Earthly  Paradise,  no  man 
could  conjecture.  To  its  discoverer  it  was  "the  infinite 
land."  The  known  world  was  a  far  different  affair  in  the 
beginning  of  1501  from  what  it  had  been  when  he  last 
sailed  from  Cadiz  in  1498.  Then,  it  was  what  Ptolemy  and 
Marco  Polo  alleged  it  to  be,  plus  his  own  additions  to 
their  knowledge.  Now,  the  waste  places  of  ocean  were 
fast  filling  with  the  rudely  sketched  outlines  of  conti 
nental  masses,  and  the  realm  of  mystery  was  shifted  from 
the  Western  Ocean  to  the  regions  which  lay  between  the 
new-found  hemisphere  and  the  ancient  kingdoms  of  the 
East.  Yet  we  are  soberly  invited  to  consider  the  man 
whose  work  this  was  as  a  driveling  visionary,  consumed 
with  vanity,  and  having  no  loftier  ambition  than  the 
acquisition  of  an  income  larger  than  his  neighbor's. 


THE  AMEND  POLITIC.  41  I 

The  Admiral  laid  his  latest  project  before  the  King  and 
Queen  sometime  during  the  summer  of  1501.  He  would 
sail  to  the  south  of  Hayti  and  Cuba,  leaving  the  now  ascer 
tained  coast  of  the  new  continent  untouched,  and  hold  a 
westerly  course  in  the  expectation  of  finding  an  ocean  pas 
sage  between  Asia,  as  he  considered  the  "  lands  seen  by  the 
Englishmen,"  and  his  own  more  southerly  continent.  This 
would,  he  believed,  bring  him  sooner  or  later  —  and  rather 
sooner  than  later  —  to  the  mouths  of  the  Ganges,  the  Spice 
Islands,  and  the  Red  Sea.  It  was  the  dream  of  the  Cuban 
voyage  in  1494  revived  and  expanded  in  the  light  of  later 
and  fuller  experience.  For  this  purpose  he  asked  for  a 
small  fleet  of  his  favorite  caravels, —  well-armed,  of  light 
draught,  and  fast  sailing.  The  voyage  was  to  be  one  for 
exploration  only,  and  he  had  abundant  reason  to  dread  a 
needless  accumulation  of  human  lumber,  so  the  number  of 
his  companions  was  to  be  no  greater  than  absolutely  neces 
sary.  He  wished  his  brother,  Don  Bartholomew,  to  ac 
company  him,  both  for  his  nautical  skill  and  his  military 
prowess.  Finally,  as  he  expected  to  eventually  reach  the 
scene  of  the  recent  Portuguese  exploits  in  the  remote  East, 
he  asked  for  royal  letters  commending  him  to  the  servants 
of  that  Crown,  as  well  as  for  others  to  the  Great  Khan  and 
the  lesser  oriental  potentates.  In  this  he  was  directly 
recurring  to  the  projects  which  he  cherished  on  his  first 
voyage  in  1492.  Then,  as  now,  he  anticipated  reaching  the 
Courts  of  Asia.  He  had  learned  that  they  lay  farther  to 
the  west  than  he  at  first  thought;  but  he  still  considered 
Cuba  and  Hayti  as  lying  at  the  threshold  of  their  domin 
ions.  It  was  only  a  question  of  a  greater  distance  than  he 
had  before  supposed. 

To  all  his  proposals  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  yielded  a 
ready  acquiescence.  At  one  stroke  to  rid  themselves  of  an 
importunate  suitor,  whose  mere  presence  constituted  a  keen 
reproach,  and,  at  the  same  time,  to  secure  the  services  of 
the  most  skilful  and  intrepid  navigator  of  the  age  in  thwart 
ing  the  schemes  of  England  and  Portgual,  was,  to  use  the 
Spanish  phrase,  "laying  gold  on  purple  velvet."  Sharing 
his  impatience  to  despatch  the  new  expedition  as  promptly 


412        THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

as  possible,  they  solemnly  repledged  their  kingly  honor, — 
or  what  was  left  of  it, —  to  do  him  rigid  and  generous  jus 
tice  in  the  matter  of  his  reclamations  against  the  Crown. 
If  aught  befell  him  on  this  voyage,  they  promised  that  Don 
Diego,  as  his  oldest  son  and  heir,  should  inherit  intact  all 
his  father's  dignities  and  emoluments.  Such  promises  are 
proverbially  of  facile  birth,  but  other  circumstances  besides 
his  abiding  faith  in  the  King  and  Queen  disposed  Colum 
bus  to  accept  them  just  now.  From  all  quarters  came  news 
of  fresh  voyages  and  explorations.  Gaspar  Cortereal,  acting 
for  Portugal,  had  followed  Cabot's  lead,  and  pushed  his 
discoveries  far  up  towards  the  Arctic  Circle.  Cabral,  in 
the  service  of  the  same  Crown,  sailing  ostensibly  for  India 
by  da  Gama's  route,  had  been  driven  so  far  to  the  west  that 
he  had  come  upon  land  nearly  one  thousand  miles  below 
the  farthest  southing  of  Lepe.1  Bastidas  and  Juan  de  la 
Cosa  had  undertaken  a  fresh  adventure  Paria-wards.  Ho- 
jeda  was  organizing  a  second  expedition  to  seize  and 
colonize  the  region  of  Coquibacoa,  around  the  Gulf  of 
Venezuela,  having  received  the  appointment  of  Governor 
thereto  from  their  Majesties  of  Spain.  Pinzon  had  under 
way  a  similar  scheme  for  annexing  the  countries  about  the 
mouth  of  the  Amazon,  also  by  virtue  of  his  nomination  as 
Governor  thereof.  Other  contracts  had  been  executed 
between  the  Crown  and  individuals  looking  to  trafficking 
ventures  along  the  coasts  of  the  southern  continent,  and  it 
was  obvious  that  so  long  as  they  shared  the  profits  from  these, 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella  proposed  to  authorize  them  and  to 
establish  local  "governments"  without  further  reference  to 
their  agreements  with  the  Admiral.  If  the  latter  delayed 
much  longer  in  Spain,  he  would  lose  his  prestige  as  mariner 
as  well  as  his  earlier  titles  and  emoluments. 

1  We  have  always  felt  skeptical  about  the  "  accidental  "  nature  of 
Cabral's  discovery  of  Brazil.  It  would  be  almost  too  much  for  human 
nature  for  the  King  of  Portugal  to  continue  hearing  of  the  Spanish 
exploits  in  the  West,  and  not  try  a  hazard  at  finding  some  land  in  that 
quarter  for  himself,  on  the  chance  that  it  might  lie  far  enough  towards 
the  East  to  come  within  his  side  of  the  Papal  demarcation. 

Pinzon  discovered  Brazil  on  January  20,  for  Spain;  Cabral  on 
April  22,  for  Portugal. 


THE   AMEND  POLITIC. 


413 


The  immediate  preparation  of  his  fleet  was  retarded  by 
an  event  which  constituted  the  most  complete  vindication 
of  the  Admiral's  much-reviled  conduct  in  Hispaniola. 
Their  investigation  of  the  rabid  and  multitudinous  charges 
brought  against  him  ended  by  convincing  the  King  and 
Queen,  that,  in  all  the  important  issues,  Columbus  was  right, 
and  Bobadilla,  Roldan,  and  the  Court  cabal  wrong.  To 
reinstate  him  as  Viceroy  formed  no  more  a  part  of  their 
policy  than  did  the  revocation  of  the  trading  and  colonizing 
licenses  granted  in  violation  of  his  rights;  but  they  saw  that 
his  administration  of  Hispaniola,  if  faulty  in  minor  details, 
had  resulted  in  the  pacification  of  the  colony,  the  control 
of  the  native  tribes,  and  the  establishment  of  a  secure  basis 
for  future  prosperity.  They  realized  that  the  great  mass  of 
accusations  laid  against  him  was  frivolous  or  worse,  and 
that  he  had,  in  fact,  discharged  his  office  as  Viceroy  in  the 
manner  likeliest  to  redound  to  the  advantage  of  the  Crown, 
due  regard  being  had  for  the  complex  difficulties  surround 
ing  him,  and  the  unpromising  material  he  had  to  use.  For 
the  injustice  done  him  their  Catholic  Majesties  would  make 
him,  if  he  and  they  lived  long  enough,  just  such  compensa 
tion  as  they  could  persuade  him  to  accept.  Meanwhile  the 
administration  of  a  Bobadilla  meant  utter  ruin  to  the  colony, 
and  the  permanent  loss  of  the  great  revenue,  which,  despite 
the  denials  of  the  Admiral's  enemies,  their  Majesties  were 
satisfied  the  island  would  produce.  To  reap  the  returns 
they  anticipated,  now  more  firmly  than  ever,  from  their  new 
dominions,  and  exercise  a  firm  control  over  the  jarring 
interests  sure  to  arise  in  the  increasing  activity  of  rival 
enterprises,  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  determined  to  establish 
a  permanent  government  for  the  Indies  at  San  Domingo, 
and  place  at  its  head  an  admirn'^rator  of  tried  capacity, 
who  was  free  from  all  connection  with  the  disputes  of  the 
stormy  past.  For  this  office  their  choice  fell  upon  Don 
Nicholas  de  Ovando,  afterwards  Grand  Commander  of  the 
great  military  Order  of  Alcantara,  a  man  eminent  alike  for 
his  character  and  ability.  Assigning  to  him  the  same  rank 
of  Judge  and  Governor  with  which  Bobadilla  had  been 
invested,  they  avoided  technically  an  abrogation  of  the 


414        THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

office  of  Viceroy  conferred  upon  Columbus  while  stripping 
the  latter  of  the  active  Governorship  to  which  he  was, 
equally  entitled.  To  Ovando  was  assigned  a  stately  retinue 
of  personal  attendants,  as  well  as  a  complete  executive  per 
sonnel.  As  if  in  derisive  refutation  of  the  dolorous  plaints 
concerning  the  unhealthfulness  and  poverty  of  Hispaniola 
brought  against  Columbus,  no  less  than  2500  persons, — 
"for  the  most  part  men  of  quality,"  Las  Casas  says, — 
enlisted  with  the  new  Governor  for  service  in  the  colony.1 
An  armada  of  thirty  or  thirty-two  vessels  was  requisitioned 
for  their  transportation,  and  the  preparations  for  its  sail 
ing  absorbed  the  resources  and  energies  of  the  Andalusian 
seaports. 

If  the  extreme  popularity  of  the  expedition  was  an  implied 
endorsement  of  the  Admiral's  consistent  representations  as 
to  the  advantages  of  Hispaniola  for  colonization,  the  instruc 
tions  given  to  Ovando  yet  more  emphatically  supported 
the  defence  made  by  him  in  answer  to  the  attacks  of  his 
enemies.  In  the  first  place,  the  new  Governor  was  to  sum 
marily  depose  Bobadilla,  and  send  him  to  Spain  by  the 
returning  fleet.  The  customary  formal  injunctions  were 
expressed  regarding  the  natives;  they  were  to  be  well  treated, 
and  assured  of  the  amiable  intentions  of  the  Spaniards  in 
their  respect.  They  were  to  continue,  nevertheless,  to  pay 
the  tribute  and  taxes  established  by  the  Admiral  to  the  ex 
tent  of  one  half  of  all  the  gold  or  other  metals  they  found, 
and  were  to  serve  the  Spaniards  as  before,  receiving  a 
stipend  for  their  labor.  As  to  the  colonists  themselves,  all 
who  had  taken  part  in  the  revolts  of  Roldan  and  Moxica 
were  to  be  sent  back  to  Spain  together  with  all  Bobadilla' s 
own  followers.  The  exemption  from  the  gold  tax  pro 
claimed  by  Bobadilla  was  revoked,  and  the  Admiral's  orders 
re-affirmed.  Certain  gifts  of  horses  and  cattle  from  the 
royal  corrals  made  by  Bobadilla  were  disallowed,  and  the 
property  acquired  by  the  latter  during  his  residence  on 
the  island  was  confiscated.  All  converted  Jews  and  Moors 
in  the  colony, —  the  "proselytes  "  of  the  Admiral's  letter  to 

1  Las  Casas  himself  visited  the  Indies  on  this  occasion  for  the  first 
time. 


THE  AMEND   POLITIC.  415 

Dona  Juana  de  Torres, —  were  ordered  to  leave  the  island. 
The  allotments  of  land  made  by  the  Admiral  were  to  be 
respected,  and  his  recommendations  touching  the  building 
of  certain  additional  fortresses,  and  the  establishment  of 
other  towns,  were  adopted.  The  Church  tithes  were  to  be 
collected  from  settlers  and  Indians  alike,  and  the  dissolute 
life  of  the  colonists,  against  which  Columbus  had  so  earn 
estly  inveighed,  was  to  be  corrected  by  the  dispatch  of  a 
dozen  priests  charged  with  the  moral  reformation  of  the 
colony.  His  plea  for  the  settlement  in  the  island  of  honest 
Spanish  families  was  also  attended  to,  and  provision  made 
for  the  emigration  of  married  couples.  In  short,  all  that 
he  had  declared  essential  for  the  welfare  of  the  colony  was 
done.  In  one  important  matter  only  did  the  King  and 
Queen  differ  from  him :  his  proposals  regarding  the  whole 
sale  shipment  of  slaves  to  Europe  was  not  acted  upon.  All 
natives  who  accepted  unresistingly  the  Spanish  regime  were 
to  be  treated  as  the  other  vassals  of  the  Crown;  those  who 
resisted  were  to  be  dealt  with  at  the  Governor's  discretion. 
As  if  to  purposely  deprive  their  action  of  any  humanitarian 
complexion,  their  Majesties  suggested  that  the  lack  of 
laborers  in  Hispaniola  might  be  profitably  supplied  by  the 
importation  of  negro  slaves  from  Africa.  They  had  no 
objections  to  slavery  as  such,  but  preferred  using  some 
body's  else  vassals  for  the  purpose.1 

Having  thus  indirectly  approved  the  Admiral's  official 
course,  their  Majesties  took  action  upon  his  merely  pecu 
niary  wrongs.  They  gave  Ovando  a  detailed  instruction 

i  On  the  30th  of  October,  1503,  Queen  Isabella  by  her  personal  act 
(Ferdinand  not  sharing  it  on  account  of  absence)  formally  decreed  that 
all  "  the  Cannibals  who  should  resist  and  refuse  to  receive  and  admit 
into  their  countries  the  captains  and  people  sent  by  me  to  make  such 
voyages,  and  should  refuse  to  hear  them  in  order  to  be  instructed  in  the 
mysteries  of  our  holy  Catholic  faith,  and  to  remain  in  my  service  and 
under  my  dominion,  may  be  captured  and  taken  to  the  other  islands 
and  countries,  and  brought  to  these  my  own  kingdoms  and  estates, 
or  to  any  other  places  or  localities  which  are  deemed  convenient  or 
desirable,  and  may  be  sold  and  utilized,  the  part  -which  belongs  to  us 
being  duly  paid  to  us"  etc. 


41 6        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

concerning  the  redress  due  Columbus  for  the  spoliations 
committed  upon  his  personal  estate  by  Bobadilla,  and  the 
damage  inflicted  by  the  recision  of  their  agreements  with 
him,  so  far  as  Hispaniola  was  concerned.  The  new  Gov 
ernor  was  to  credit  the  Admiral  with  one-eighth  of  the  net 
profits  of  all  merchandise  sold  in  the  island  for  account  of 
the  Crown;  to  allow  one-tenth  of  the  income  derived  from 
all  sources,  after  deducting  his  share  of  outlays,  salaries, 
etc., —  the  exemption  granted  in  1497  from  his  proportion 
of  certain  expenses  being  reaffirmed;  to  set  apart  one-tenth 
of  the  live-stock  for  his  account;  to  pay  to  his  representative 
the  sums  due  from  "  farming  out "  certain  offices,  and  from 
certain  perquisites  accruing  from  ship-dues,  etc. ;  to  allow 
him  in  hundredweight  of  brazil-wood  annually  in  lieu  of 
ten  per  cent  upon  the  whole  amount  cut;  and  to  permit  his 
agent  to  verify  the  amount  of  gold  received  at  the  royal 
mint,  and  collect  his  share  therefrom.  Finally,  the  Gov 
ernor  was  to  see  that  punctual  restitution  was  made  of  all 
property  taken  by  Bobadilla  from  Columbus  and  his  brothers, 
or  that  compensation  was  made  wherever  restitution  was 
impracticable.  The  mere  recital  of  these  effects  shows  the 
extent  of  Bobadilla' s  rapacity,  or  petty  spite:  clothing, 
household  furniture  and  ornaments,  provisions,  wine,  mares 
and  their  colts,  money,  jewels,  Indian  curios,  books, 
manuscripts,  maps,  and, —  not  least, —  "the  stones  from 
which  the  gold  grows,  which  are  partly  made  of  gold."1 
To  see  that  his  interests  were  hereafter  more  equitably 
guarded,  Columbus  was  permitted  to  name  a  fiscal,  or 
agent,  and  Alonzo  Sanchez  de  Carvajal,  his  choice,  was 
commanded  to  Ovando's  friendly  attentions. 

Either  because  he  realized  that,  for  the  present  at  least, 

1  The  theory  held  by  Columbus  and  contemporaries  concerning  the 
origin  of  gold  was  that  it  grew  from  the  ores  containing  it.  He  had 
accumulated  a  quantity  of  gold-bearing  stones  in  which  the  metal  was 
plainly  visible,  and  laid  them  aside  to  abide  the  time  when  each  frag 
ment  of  rock  would  "  grow  "  into  solid  gold,  and  their  confiscation  by 
Bobadilla  was  doubly  irksome,  for  scientific  and  material  reasons.  The 
writer  has  had  the  same  theory  elaborately  expounded  to  him  by  old 
miners  in  the  more  remote  parts  of  South  America,  who  cached  gold- 
streaked  rocks  for  the  same  purpose. 


THE  AMEND  POLITIC.  417 

no  further  concession  could  be  obtained  from  Ferdinand  or 
Isabella,  or  because  he  was  content  to  defer  for  a  season 
the  adjudication  of  his  larger  claims  while  he  pursued  his 
new  undertaking,  the  Admiral  accepted  without  protest  the 
partial  amends  offered  him  by  the  Crown.  There  is  nothing 
of  record  to  indicate  that  the  nomination  of  Ovando  and 
the  elaborate  resources  placed  at  his  disposal  wounded  his 
susceptibilities  or  aroused  his  opposition.  The  Governor's 
commission  ran  only  for  two  years;  he  was  charged  espe 
cially  with  the  execution  of  the  measures  advocated  by  the 
Admiral;  he  was  going  to  supplant  Bobadilla  as  unceremo 
niously  as  the  latter  had  displaced  his  predecessor;  and  was 
to  a  certain  extent  made  the  guardian  of  the  Admiral'' 
property  and  vested  interests  in  Hispaniola.  Columbus 
knew  that  this  was  virtually  a  victory  and  an  endorsement 
for  himself;  he  possessed  and  believed  their  Majesties' 
renewed  assurances  that  exact  justice  would  be  finally  done, 
and  fresh  honors  bestowed  upon  him;  and,  without  yield 
ing  a  hair's-breadth  of  his  ground,  he  was  satisfied  to  let 
Ovando  fulfil  his  mission,  while  he  himself  carried  out  his 
own  latest  project.  The  frequent  licenses  being  granted  for 
individual  voyages,  and  the  granting  of  executive  powers  to 
Hojeda  and  Pinzon  on  the  shores  of  Terra  Firma,  more 
nearly  concerned  his  privileges  than  did  the  special  service 
entrusted  to  Ovando.  All  of  his  material  interests  in  His 
paniola  were  now  recognized  and  safeguarded,  and  the 
matter  of  his  official  prerogatives  in  that  colony  would  be 
settled  in  due  course,  while  both  his  dignities  and  his 
emoluments  were  assailed  in  the  course  being  pursued  with 
regard  to  Paria  and  its  adjoining  coasts.  Being  of  less 
immediate  moment,  however,  these  infractions  of  his  rights 
could  await  ulterior  remedy.  His  formal  protests  and 
demands  were  before  their  Majesties,  and  he  had  received 
enough  acknowledgment  of  their  cogency  to  satisfy  him  of 
their  final  allowance.  This  we  conceive  to  have  been  the 
true  attitude  of  Columbus  at  this  juncture.  His  correspon 
dence,  at  that  season,  bears  us  out. 

Ovando  received  his  formal  instructions  in  September; 
but,   notwithstanding  extraordinary  efforts  were    made    to 

27 


41 8        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

hasten  his  departure,  five  months  passed  before  he  was 
ready  to  sail.  In  the  meantime  the  Admiral's  exploring 
squadron  could  not  be  fitted  out,  and,  apart  from  such 
assistance  as  he  could  render  the  new  Governor  in  the  way 
of  counsel  and  information,  he  was  measurably  master  of 
his  time.  There  is  some  evidence  that  during  the  first 
months  succeeding  his  return  to  Spain  he  was  straitened 
for  means,  and  it  is  apparently  to  this  period  that  he  re 
ferred,  in  writing  from  Jamaica  the  following  year,  when 
he  said :  "  So  little  have  twenty  years  of  service  availed  me, 
that  at  this  day  I  have  not  a  roof  to  call  my  own  in  Spain. 
If  I  wish  to  eat  or  sleep,  I  have  no  place  other  than  the 
public  table  or  an  inn,  and,  for  the  most  part,  have  not 
enough  to  pay  the  scot."  Pending  the  decision  in  his  favor 
which  was  incorporated  in  the  instructions  given  to 
Ovando,  Columbus  had  no  standing  with  the  officials  of 
the  Castilian  treasury,  and  they  were  not  likely  to  discount 
the  future  to  his  advantage.  Any  sums  of  money  received 
by  him  during  those  months  must  have  been  either  in  the 
nature  of  a  royal  largess  or  of  loans  contracted  by  himself. 
We  do  not  think  that  his  poverty  was  other  than  relative. 
It  is  true  that  he  landed  in  Spain  more  than  a  pauper;  but 
he  had  wealthy  and  influential  friends,  and  the  habits  of 
the  times  permitted  borrowing  without  imposing  loss  of 
personal  dignity  thereby.  His  own  phrase  need  not  imply 
necessarily  abject  want,  and  the  only  color  given  to  the  as 
sumed  existence  of  the  latter  is  a  letter  attributed  to  a  Vene 
tian  envoy  which  might  easily  be  exaggerated  from  national 
prejudices.  It  is  certain  that  with  the  publication  of 
Ovando 's  instructions,  and  the  acceptance  of  the  Admiral's 
own  plans  of  exploration,  all  cause  for  lack  of  reasonable 
resources  would  disappear,  for  his  relations  were  always 
close  with  the  prominent  Italian  merchants,  of  whom  many 
were  settled  in  Seville  and  Cadiz.  It  relieves  the  King  and 
Queen  of  no  part  of  their  responsibility  that  their  Admiral's 
necessities  were  probably  of  brief  duration.  That  he  should 
have  been  even  momentarily  embarrassed,  is  only  another 
indication  of  the  innate  selfishness  of  their  natures  and 
policy.  The  ducats  they  advanced  for  Ovando 's  resplen- 


THE  AMEND  POLITIC.  419 

dent  wardrobe  1  would  have  tided  Columbus  over  his  season 
of  distress. 

The  time  passed  rapidly  enough  for  the  waiting  Admiral. 
He  found  abundant  occupation  in  preparing  his  petitions 
and  memorials;  in  soliciting  the  support  of  his  friends;  in 
completing  the  records  and  charts  of  his  last  discoveries; 
in  familiarizing  himself  with  the  results  of  the  many  voy 
ages  undertaken  in  his  two  years  of  absence,  and  in  matur 
ing  his  plans  for  his  approaching  exploration.  Among  other 
projects  he  proposed  the  construction  of  a  new  type  of 
vessels  for  his  voyage;  the  ordinary  caravels,  even  when 
rigged  with  lateen-sails,  were  not  adapted  to  the  naviga 
tion  of  the  western  seas.  But  in  this  he  was  discouraged 
by  their  Majesties,  who  urged  the  need  of  an  early  de 
parture,  and  the  length  of  time  required  to  build  the  new 
ships. 

One  other  subject  absorbed  much  of  his  attention. 
A  close  student  for  many  years  of  the  Scriptures,  and  of  the 
patristic  literature  based  upon  them,  he  continued  the  train 
of  reflection  to  which  he  had  dedicated  so  much  time  after 
the  discovery  of  Paria.  Doubtless  the  same  ideas  had  filled 
his  mind  during  the  long  weeks  of  his  recent  mournful 
voyage  across  the  Atlantic,  and  to  them  he  now  wedded  his 
earlier  speculations  concerning  the  recovery  of  the  Holy 
Sepulchre.  If  his  new  voyage  resulted  as  he  hoped,  a  way 
would  be  opened  for  that  enterprise,  independent  of  all 
need  of  cooperation  from  the  other  Powers  of  Christendom. 
In  a  letter  written  in  February  to  the  Pope,  he  had  already 
dwelt  upon  this  scheme.  Speaking  of  Hispaniola  he  said : 
"This  island  is  Tarsis,  is  Cethia,  is  Ophir,  Ophaz,  and 
Cipango;"  apparently  assuming  that  it  was  the  original 
source  of  all  Solomon's  treasure.  Its  future  revenues,  he 
informed  His  Holiness,  were  destined  for  the  redemption 
of  Jerusalem :  — 

1  Much  sympathy  has  been  invoked  for  the  Admiral  by  contrasting 
his  humble  Franciscan  robe  and  rope  girdle  with  the  unusually  elabo 
rate  outfit  allowed  Ovando.  Had  their  positions  been  reversed,  Colum 
bus  would  have  retained  his  sombre  dress,  for  the  reasons  given  in  a 
previous  chapter. 


420        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF  THE  ADMIRAL. 

"  This  undertaking  was  initiated  with  the  purpose  of  expend 
ing  whatever  it  yielded  in  restoring  the  Holy  Sepulchre  to  the 
Holy  Church.  After  I  went  thither  and  examined  the  country, 
I  wrote  to  the  King  and  Queen  my  sovereigns  that  in  seven 
years'  time  I  would  furnish  the  means  for  50,000  infantry  and 
5000  cavalry  to  be  employed  in  that  conquest,  and  five  years 
later  would  supply  50,000  infantry  and  5000  cavalry  more.  .  .  . 
Satan  has  thwarted  all  this,  and  by  his  arts  has  put  an  end  to  it 
all,  so  that  neither  one  nor  the  other  plan  can  have  effect,  unless 
Our  Lord  should  repair  the  damage.1' 

He  had  expressed  the  same  thought  on  turning  back  from 
his  Cuban  voyage  in  1494,  and  it  became  more  plausible 
now  that  he  was  contemplating  an  expedition  which,  if  suc 
cessful,  would  find  a  short  cut  to  the  Red  Sea  and  Mecca, 
the  seat  of  the  infidel  rule.  The  extraordinary  vicissitudes 
of  his  career,  and  especially  its  marvellous  successes,  might 
readily  have  persuaded  him  that  he  was  a  being  of  superior 
mould  as  compared  with  his  fellows;  one  capable  of  achieve 
ments  immeasurably  beyond  their  limited  abilities.  In 
stead,  he  was  convinced  that  he  was  a  mere  implement  in  the 
hands  of  his  Creator,  foreordained  to  this  peculiar  work  of 
discovery  from  the  beginning  of  time.  From  this  to  a  be 
lief  that  his  predestined  service  was  alluded  to  in  Holy  Writ 
was  an  easy  transition  for  one  who  held  as  firmly  as  did  he 
to  a  divine  interposition  in  the  every-day  concerns  of  the 
world,  and  applied  the  words  of  the  Psalmist  and  prophets 
to  the  ordinary  affairs  of  life.  Having  found  no  lack  of 
verses  which  pointed,  in  his  estimation,  either  to  the  unveil 
ing  of  the  Western  WTorld  or  to  the  recovery  of  Jerusalem  from 
the  paynim,  he  put  them  together  and  evolved  a  produc 
tion  which  seemed  to  him  to  designate  the  recovery  of  the 
Sepulchre  as  an  immediate  corollary  to  the  solving  of  Ocean's 
world-old  mystery.  The  extreme  urgency  of  prompt  action 
was  dwelt  upon,  and  reasons  adduced  why  the  world  could 
not  last  in  any  event  beyond  the  year  1655.  Concurring, 
as  this  theory  did,  with  his  most  cherished  ambition,  he 
was  impatient  to  lay  it  before  his  sovereigns  as  an  irresisti 
ble  appeal  to  their  energetic  piety.  Beginning  shortly 
after  his  release  from  chains,  with  his  collection  of  authori- 


THE  AMEND  POLITIC.  421 

ties  and  supposed  prophecies,  Columbus  had  given  all  the 
time  he  could  spare  to  the  elaboration  of  his  views.  But 
he  was,  to  use  his  own  words,  only  "an  ignorant  seaman, 
not  learned  in  letters,  a  mere  layman,"  and  as  such  not  con 
fident  of  his  own  ability  to  becomingly  present  his  evidence 
in  so  important  a  matter.  Moreover,  as  the  time  approached 
for  the  equipment  of  his  fleet,  he  found  no  leisure  for  satis 
factorily  completing  his  argument.  In  this  dilemma  he 
called  in  Fray  Caspar  Gorricio;  not  the  narrow-minded 
Carthusian  monk  some  would  have  us  believe,  but  a  skilled 
and  accomplished  man  of  affairs,  one  of  their  Majesties' 
principal  secretaries,  and  of  sufficient  note  to  secure  the 
lucrative  sinecure  of  the  office  of  Chief  Notary  for  His- 
paniola.  Fray  Caspar  accepted  the  task  of  revision  and 
amendment  with  readiness,  and  in  good  time  returned  what 
he  terms  the  Admiral's  "so  wholesome,  consoling,  edifying, 
and  inspiriting  work,"  to  which  he  had  modestly  added  his 
own  "little  fragments,  as  one  gathers  together  the  gleanings 
of  the  vineyard,  olive  grove,  and  cornfield."  In  this  shape 
it  was  submitted  to  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  shortly  before 
Columbus  sailed. 

"Most  Christian  and  Mighty  Princes,"  the  Admiral's  intro 
ductory  letter  began :  "  The  reason  I  have  for  the  restoration  of 
the  Holy  Sepulchre  to  the  holy  Church  Militant  is  as  follows : 

"  From  a  very  tender  age,  Most  Potent  Sovereigns,  I  began 
voyaging  upon  the  sea,  and  therein  have  continued  until  this 
day.  That  art  impels  whomsoever  pursues  it  to  wish  to  know 
the  mysteries  of  this  world.  More  than  40  years  have  already 
passed  that  I  have  spent  in  the  calling.  All  that  is  navigated 
to-day  I  have  sailed  over.  I  have  had  conversation  and  acquaint 
ance  with  learned  men  both  clerical  and  lay,  with  Latins  and 
Greeks,  Jews  and  Saracens,  and  with  many  of  other  sects. 

"  I  have  found  Our  Lord  to  be  favorably  inclined  to  this,  my 
desire,  and  from  Him  have  received  a  spirit  of  intelligence  for 
its  accomplishment.  In  sea-craft  He  made  me  skilful;  of 
astronomy  He  endowed  me  with  what  was  sufficient,  and  of 
arithmetic  and  geometry  as  well ;  and  He  gave  me  the  mental 
ability  and  competent  hands  to  portray  a  globe  and  upon  it  to 
place  cities,  rivers  and  mountains,  islands  and  ports,  each  in  its 
own  proper  place. 

"In  this  time  I  have  seen  and  labored  to  see   all  possible 


422        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

writings  of  cosmography,  history,  chronicles,  philosophy,  and  other 
sciences  until  Our  Lord,  with  palpable  touch,  opened  my  under 
standing  to  see  that  it  was  practicable  to  sail  from  here  to  the 
Indies,  and  aroused  in  me  the  desire  to  undertake  it.  With  this 
fire  in  my  heart  I  came  to  your  Majesties.  All  those  who  knew 
of  my  project  jeeringly  derided  it ;  with  them  neither  the  sciences 
I  have  spoken  of  nor  the  authorities  cited  from  these  availed 
anything.  In  your  Majesties  alone  remained  faith  and  con 
stancy.  Who  shall  doubt  that  this  light  was  not  given  you  by 
the  Holy  Ghost,  as  it  was  to  me?  that  He  favored  you  with 
marvellous  gleams  of  brightness  from  His  holy  and  sacred 
Scriptures  ?  Clear  and  high  they  spoke  to  me ;  with  four-and- 
forty  books  of  the  Old  Testament,  the  four  Gospels  and  twenty- 
three  Epistles  of  the  Blessed  Apostles,  encouraging  me  to 
proceed,  as  they  still  encourage  me,  without  a  momenfs  cessa 
tion,  to  continue  with  all  speed." 

The  argument  —  if  so  it  can  be  called  —  then  proceeds 
through  eighty-four  pages  of  manuscript.  Since  the  discov 
ery  of  the  Western  World  was  due  to  inspiration,  as  great 
heed  should  be  paid  to  the  suggestions  of  the  Spirit  con 
cerning  the  recovery  of  Jerusalem.  Owing  to  the  near 
approach  of  the  end  of  the  world,  and  the  consequent  extinc 
tion  of  all  Mohammedans,  unless  their  Catholic  Majesties 
undertook  the  crusade,  countless  millions  of  souls  must  be 
lost.  Their  conquest  of  Granada  and  the  Indies  marked 
them  out  as  the  instruments  of  the  divine  purpose. 

"  From  the  creation  of  the  world,  or  from  Adam,  to  the  com 
ing  of  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  was  5343  years  and  318  days,  by  the 
calculation  of  the  King,  Don  Alfonso,  which  is  considered  most 
accurate.  Adding  to  these  1501,  —  not  yet  finished,  —  the  total 
is  6845,  —  not  quite  completed.  According  to  this  count  only 
155  years  are  lacking  to  the  7000  within  which  the  world  will 
come  to  an  end,  according  to  the  authorities  cited  above." l 

Such  was  the  tone  of  this  singular  composition.  It  was 
rilled  with  long  passages  from  the  Prophets,  from  the  Fathers, 
and  from  the  works  of  learned  Jewish  Rabbis.  It  closes 

1  This  Don  Alfonso  was  he,  surnamed  "  the  Wise,"  who  reigned  in 
the  thirteenth  century.  The  authorities  quoted  are  St.  Augustine  and 
those  who  adopted  his  calculations,  in  particular  the  Cardinal  Pierre 
d'Ailly,  or  Petrus  Aliacus. 


THE  AMEND  POLITIC.  423 

with  a  number  of  glosas,  or  verses  elaborating  certain  texts, 
which  are  no  worse  than  the  average  of  amateur  rhymes,  but 
certainly  are  no  better.  In  the  original,  fourteen  pages  are 
cut  out,  and  an  ancient  marginal  note  declares  that  they 
contained  the  matter  of  greatest  importance.  As  it  stands, 
the  work  sheds  a  curious  light  upon  the  nature  of  its  author, 
and  is  indispensable  for  a  just  knowledge  of  his  character. 
"Maundering"  and  "drivelling,"  as  his  critics  claim,  it  is 
not;  unless  we  are  prepared  to  designate  by  the  same  terms 
the  theological  and  religious  views  held  by  all  those  from 
whom  we  ourselves  may  differ.  Humboldt,  in  speaking  of 
it,  has  well  said  that  no  one  thinks  the  less  of  Newton  because 
he  speculated  concerning  the  horns  on  Ezekiel's  beast,  and 
the  illustration  could  be  multiplied  indefinitely.  With  his 
singular  leaning  towards  mysticism,  it  is  not  strange  that 
Columbus  should  have  argued  himself  into  believing  what 
he  expressed  in  this  paper,  small  as  was  the  chance  of  his 
convincing  any  one  else.  Throughout  his  later  life  his 
actions,  even  more  than  his  words,  indicate  that  he  looked 
upon  himself  as  one  "devoted,"  and  under  the  direct  guid 
ance  of  the  Almighty  for  good  or  ill.  If  his  acts  were  not 
always  consistent  with  such  a  conviction,  they  only  increase 
the  evidence  that  he  was  mistaken. 

By  the  opening  of  the  year  1502,  Ovando's  great  fleet  was 
ready  to  sail.  At  his  final  audience  with  the  sovereigns, 
Ferdinand  delivered  a  long  discourse  upon  the  duties  of  a 
righteous  judge  and  prudent  governor,  ending,  if  we  may 
accept  Herrera's  report  of  the  harangue,  with  the  injunction 
to  "  apply  with  promptness  the  needful  punishment  when 
ever  occasion  demanded,  lest  the  same  should  happen  with 
him  which  befell  the  Admiral;  for  in  such  emergencies  the 
chastisement  should  fall  like  a  stroke  of  lightning."  Con 
sidering  that  half  the  Admiral's  difficulties  arose  from  the 
readiness  of  the  King  and  Queen  to  believe  prejudiced 
charges  of  his  excessive  rigor  in  executing  the  laws,  there 
was  a  grim  humor  in  the  King's  closing  words  which  could 
not  have  been  wholly  lost  upon  his  hearer.  The  Governor 
set  sail  from  San  Lucar  on  the  i3th  of  February,  and  nearly 
came  to  grief  in  a  storm  which  overtook  him  a  few  days 


424   THE  LAST  VOYAGES  OF  THE  AD  AURAL. 

later.  His  vessels  were  for  the  most  part  overladen  and  ran 
great  risk  of  foundering;  but  after  being  scattered  among 
the  Canaries,  and  along  the  Barbary  coast,  they  reunited  at 
Gomera  with  the  loss  of  a  single  ship,  her  crew,  and  120 
passengers.  Resuming  his  course,  he  reached  San  Domingo 
on  the  1 5th  of  April,  and  all  his  fleet  straggled  in  later  on 
without  other  disaster. 

The  departure  of  the  larger  armament  left  Fonseca  and 
Bribiesca  no  further  excuse  for  delaying  that  of  Columbus. 
He  had  established  himself  in  Seville  as  early  as  the  pre 
ceding  October,  and  begun  his  preparations,  so  that  the 
fitting  out  of  his  squadron  now  proceeded  rapidly.  Four 
ships  were  chartered,  the  largest  of  seventy,  the  smallest  of 
fifty  tons  burthen.  Their  crews  numbered  141  men  and 
boys,  besides  the  Admiral's  small  personal  staff.  There  was 
an  unusual  proportion  of  good  material  in  the  number,  as 
the  sequel  will  show.  Provisions  for  two  years  were  taken, 
and  an  ample  stock  of  goods  for  barter  with  the  Indians. 
Besides  Don  Bartholomew, —  who  was  at  first  inclined  to 
think  he  could  be  of  greater  service  by  remaining  in  Spain, 
—  Columbus  asked  and  obtained  the  royal  permission  to 
take  with  him  his  youngest  son,  Fernando,  a  boy  of  thirteen 
years.  The  Admiral,  in  addition  to  the  letters  furnished 
him  to  the  Eastern  princes,  requested  to  be  furnished  with 
one  or  two  interpreters  who  knew  Arabic,  and  this  was 
granted.  His  application  to  be  allowed  to  touch  at  His- 
paniola  on  the  outward  passage  was,  however,  refused,  on 
the  ground  that  there  was  no  time  to  lose  in  getting  to  the 
scene  of  his  intended  exploration.  On  the  return  voyage, 
their  Majesties  said,  he  might  touch  there  for  a  few  days, 
if  it  were  necessary.  An  open  letter  given  him  for  de 
livery  to  any  Portuguese  commander  was  based  upon  the 
probability  of  his  meeting  the  ships  of  that  nation  in  the 
distant  seas  of  the  Orient. 

Their  Majesties'  final  replies  and  instructions  were  dated 
in  the  middle  of  March.  In  answer  to  the  Admiral's  ear 
nest  entreaty  that,  in  the  event  of  his  death  while  on  this 
voyage,  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  would  render  to  his  sons 
and  brothers  that  ample  justice  which  he  claimed  was  due 


THE  AMEND  POLITIC.  42$ 

himself,   the   sovereigns   sent  him   a   solemn  pledge  —  as 
solemn  as  any  of  its  emphatic  predecessors :  — 

"  As  to  that  part  of  your  memorials  and  letters  referring  to 
yourself,  your  sons  and  your  brothers,  we  cannot  take  action 
until  we  settle  in  some  place,  for  we  are,  as  you  know,  making 
a  progress  and  you  on  the  point  of  sailing,  and  if  you  were  to 
wait  for  this  you  would  lose  the  voyage  you  are  about  to  make. 
Therefore  it  is  better,  since  everything  you  require  for  your 
journey  is  in  readiness,  that  you  set  sail  at  once,  without  any 
delay,  and  leave  to  your  son  the  duty  of  promoting  the  petitions 
contained  in  your  memorials.  Be  assured  that  we  were  deeply 
grieved  by  your  imprisonment,  as  you  saw  beyond  question  and 
all  know  of  a  certainty,  for  as  soon  as  we  knew  of  it  we  ordered 
it  to  be  undone.  You  know,  moreover,  the  distinction  with 
which  we  have  always  commanded  that  you  should  be  treated, 
and  we  are  now  much  more  determined  to  honor  and  distinguish 
you.  The  rewards  we  have  given  you  shall  be  entirely  fulfilled, 
according  to  the  form  and  tenor  of  our  agreements,  as  you  have 
seen,  without  anything  being  allowed  to  affect  them,  and  you 
and  your  sons  shall  enjoy  them  as  is  right.  If  it  be  needful  to 
confirm  them  again,  we  will  confirm  them,  and  we  will  direct 
that  your  son  be  placed  in  possession  of  the  whole.  Even  in 
more  than  this  we  have  the  desire  to  honor  and  reward  you,  and  we 
shall  hold  your  sons  and  brothers  in  the  consideration  which  is 
due.  All  this  can  be  done  if  you  sail  at  once,  leaving  these  things 
in  charge  of  your  son,  and  so  we  ask  that  in  your  departure  there 
may  be  no  delay." 

And  Columbus  believed  this  specious  rigmarole,  accepted 
it  as  his  sovereigns'  plighted  faith,  and  started  upon  his 
plunge  into  the  unknown  with  perfect  confidence  in  his 
royal  patrons !  —  or  almost  perfect  confidence.  Don  Diego, 
his  oldest  son  and  heir,  a  lad  of  rare  intelligence,  was  com 
missioned  to  prosecute  his  father's  claims  in  consultation 
with  his  tried  friends.  But  to  provide  for  possible  emer 
gencies,  duplicate  copies  of  all  his  agreements  with  the 
Crown,  his  patents  of  rank,  and  other  evidences  of  his  rights, 
were  made  out  and  sent  by  different  hands  to  the  Signory  of 
Genoa,  his  native  city,  there  to  be  preserved  as  that  city's 
title  to  the  portion  of  his  estate  bequeathed  it  in  his  will  • 
of  February  22nd,  1498.  He  may  not  have  doubted  the 


426        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

loyalty  of  the  King  and  Queen;  but  for  his  children's  sake 
he  wished  to  secure  the  cooperation  of  the  powerful  republic 
in  the  event  of  any  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  Spanish  Crown 
to  evade  its  obligations  after  his  death.  Others  might  not 
attach  the  same  importance  to  the  matter  that  he  did,  but 
he  saw  farther  than  they,  and  knew  that,  if  his  guaranteed 
rights  were  respected,  his  estate  would  be  worthy  even  of 
the  attention  of  the  wealthy  commonwealth  of  St.  George. 

By  the  middle  of  April  the  four  caravels  —  the  flagship, 
"Gallego,"  "Santiago,"  and  "Vizcaina" — were  ready  to 
sail,  but  they  did  not  leave  Cadiz  until  the  nth  of  May.1 
To  the  spectators  of  their  departure  they  were  only  another 
trading  venture  into  the  now  familiar  Indies,  no  more  inter 
esting  than  the  four  ships  of  Hojeda.  The  more  recent 
sailing  of  Ovando's  stately  fleet  had  furnished  a  marine 
spectacle  worth  the  seeing,  but  this  affair  of  the  "  old  Ad 
miral's"  was  commonplace.  Nine  years  before  the  bay 
had  rung  with  cheers  as  he  led  his  own  imposing  array  of 
ships  out  into  the  then  new  regions;  but  that  was  too  long 
for  the  populace  to  remember.  With  most  of  them  Colum 
bus  now  ranked  with  Hojeda,  Guerra,  Bastidas,  and  the  Pin- 
zons,  and  they  probably  looked  for  his  return  in  due  time 
with  the  usual  lading  of  Indian  slaves,  strange  weapons, 
screaming  parrots,  and  ague-stricken  crew.  Twenty  years 
later  they  hailed  Magellan's  lieutenant  as  a  prodigy  of  skill 
and  valor  on  his  return  from  circling  the  globe,  and  he  was 
granted  the  proud  motto,  "  Thou  wast  the  first  to  encompass 
me."  Yet  on  that  May  morning,  in  1502,  the  "old  Ad 
miral,"  little  as  they  knew  it,  was  setting  forth  equally 
determined  to  return  to  Spain  with  a  rising  sun.  "Thou 
first  attempted  to  girdle  me  "  might  as  properly  have  been 
allotted  to  Columbus. 

1  Following  the  report  of  Porras,  the  royal  comptroller  on  board  the 
squadron.  Las  Casas  says  the  9th. 


XXI. 

ANTICIPATING   MAGELLAN. 

JUST  south  of  the  Strait  of  Gibraltar,  on  the  Atlantic 
coast  of  Morocco,  the  Portuguese  maintained  a  garri 
son  in  the  small  town  of  Arcila  —  a  dreary  enough  post, 
with  the  sea  of  Sahara  sands  piling  against  its  landward 
walls  and  the  waves  of  Ocean  beating  against  its  front. 
Among  the  knights  who  held  the  fortress  were  certain 
kinsmen  of  Dona  Felipa  Moniz  de  Perestrello,  the  long- 
dead  wife  of  Columbus.  This  may  have  been  known  to  the 
Admiral  while  he  was  lying  at  San  Lucar  awaiting  a  favor 
able  wind  ;  at  all  events,  he  there  learned  that  the  place  was 
suffering  from  a  prolonged  siege  by  the  desert  tribes,  and 
was  in  evil  plight.  Instead,  therefore,  of  holding  his  course 
direct  to  the  Canaries,  as  originally  proposed,  he  steered 
south  and  suddenly  appeared  off  Arcila.  His  object  was 
to  impress  the  Moors  with  the  conviction  that  a  relieving 
fleet  was  arriving,  and  thus  alarm  them  into  abandoning  the 
siege  ;  but,  on  communicating  with  the  shore,  he  found  the 
besiegers  had  already  raised  their  leaguer,  and  withdrawn 
into  the  interior.  Don  Bartholomew  and  the  captains  of 
the  caravels  paid  a  ceremonious  visit  to  the  wounded  Gov 
ernor  of  the  place,  offering  him  in  the  Admiral's  name  any 
assistance  the  squadron  could  supply,  and  in  return  for  this 
courtesy  a  number  of  the  officers,  including  the  Admiral's 
connections,  went  aboard  the  vessels  to  thank  him  for  his 
friendly  intervention.  This  exchange  of  civilities  ended, 
the  Admiral  hoisted  sail  on  the  same  day  and  stood  for  the 
Canaries.  His  little  military  excursion  is  commonly  attrib- 

427 


428        THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

uted  to  orders  received  from  the  King  and  Queen,  but  the 
facts  point  rather  to  its  being  an  independent  exercise  of 
his  undoubted  prerogatives  as  an  Admiral  of  Castile.  Por 
tugal  and  Spain  were  at  peace,  and  it  did  not  consist  either 
with  his  own  or  Don  Bartholomew's  disposition  to  lose  so 
fair  a  chance  of  chastising  the  hated  Moors  without  serious 
inconvenience  to  their  own  plans.  If  he  also  learned,  on 
reaching  Cadiz  from  Seville,  that  his  wife's  kinsmen  were  in 
the  beleaguered  town,  there  was  a  double  reason  for  his 
action.  We  are  surprised  that  his  critics  have  overlooked 
this  instance  of  the  "  nepotism  "  with  which,  for  some  occult 
reason,  they  charge  him. 

The  squadron  reached  the  Great  Canary  on  the  2Oth, 
took  in  wood  and  water,  and  on  the  26th  dropped  the  last 
of  the  islands,  Ferro,  below  the  horizon  and  started  on  the 
cruise  which  was  expected  to  continue  around  the  globe.  For 
once  all  the  elements  were  propitious  to  Columbus,  and  on 
Thursday,  the  i5th  of  June,  he  dropped  anchor  in  a  harbor 
of  Mantinino,  —  that  "  island  of  Amazons  "  which  he  failed 
to  find  in  1492,  and  which  we  now  call  Martinique.1  Here 
he  remained  for  three  days  to  take  in  wood  and  water,  and 
allow  the  crews  an  opportunity  to  stretch  their  legs  on  land. 
Weighing  anchor,  he  sailed  through  the  glorious  archipelago, 
along  the  south  coast  of  Porto  Rico,  and  so  on  to  the  port 
of  San  Domingo,  off  which  he  arrived  on  the  2gih  of  June. 
Thus  far  his  voyage  had  been  not  only  the  most  rapid 
but  the  most  featureless  of  the  seven  passages  he  had  made 
across  the  Ocean  Sea.  It  is  even  recorded  by  his  son  that 
the  sails  were  not  shifted  between  the  Canaries  and  Man- 

1  Dr.  Winsor  does  not  neglect  to  remark  that  Columbus  "  professed 
to  have  been  but  twenty  days  between  Cadiz  and  Martinino,  but  the 
statement  seems  to  have  been  confused  with  his  usual  inaccuracy." 
Now  the  Admiral's  own  words  are,  "  From  Cadiz  I  passed  to  the  Cana 
ries  in  four  days  and  thence  to  the  Indies  in  sixteen  days,  where  I 
wrote."  If  we  allow  for  the  detentions  off  Arcila  and  in  the  island,  — 
and  even  modern  captains  count  only  their  running  time,  —  the  Admi 
ral's  statement  is  probably  exact.  The  fact  that  he  landed  tit.  Martinique 
on  the  1 5th  does  not  militate  against  his  having  sighted  Barbadoes  or 
the  neighboring  islands  two  or  three  days  earlier.  "  From  land  to 
land  "  is  an  honest  sailor-man's  count  to  this  day. 


ANTICIPATING  MAGELLAN.  429 

tinino,  so  persistently  favorable  were  the  wind  and  weather. 
But  one  of  his  ships  proved  to  be  a  sluggish  sailer  and  a 
dangerous  sea-boat,  having  so  low  a  freeboard  that  any 
attempt  to  crowd  on  sail  caused  her  to  ship  water  even  in 
fair  weather.  To  attempt  to  circumnavigate  the  world  with 
such  a  vessel  would  be  folly,  and  the  Admiral,  calling  a 
council  of  his  captains  and  pilots,1  submitted  to  them  the 
query  as  to  whether  they  considered  the  ship  seaworthy. 
Their  opinion  confirming  his  own,  he  determined  to  apply 
to  Ovando  for  another  vessel,  despite  the  royal  command 
not  to  touch  at  Hispaniola. 

In  order  to  avoid  publicity,  and  the  possibility  of  a  dispute 
with  the  Governor  which  could  not  fail  to  demoralize  his 
men,  he  did  not  enter  the  harbor  of  San  Domingo  but  passed 
on  to  a  bay  some  leagues  farther  west.  Here  he  anchored 
in  the  midst  of  a  violent  tempest,  which  sprang  up  at  the 
time,  and,  to  the  Admiral's  trained  eye,  threatened  to  last 
for  several  days.  From  this  spot  he  despatched  Pedro  de 
Terreros,  the  captain  of  the  defective  craft  and  an  old  com 
panion  of  the  Admiral's,  to  the  neighboring  city,  charged  to 
present  the  squadron's  plight  to  Ovando  and  request  per 
mission  for  it  to  enter  the  harbor  of  San  Domingo.  The 
Admiral  offered  either  to  exchange  the  vessel  for  a  more 
suitable  one,  or  to  buy  another  outright  from  among  the 
Governor's  numerous  fleet.  He  also  called  Ovando's  atten 
tion  to  the  signs  of  continued  foul  weather  which  were  ap 
parent,  and  explained  that  he  feared  for  the  safety  of  his 
squadron  in  the  exposed  haven  he  had  temporarily  selected. 
Doubtful  of  the  success  of  his  appeal,  despite  the  reasonable 
grounds  upon  which  it  was  based,  he  committed  to  Terreros  a 
package  of  letters  to  their  Majesties  and  others,  which  he  had 
written  after  reaching  Mantinino,  on  the  chance  of  finding  a 
means  for  transmitting  them  to  Spain.  In  them  he  had  out 
lined  his  perfected  plan,  which  was  to  sail  direct  for  Jamaica, 
and  thence  steer  due  west  and  make  all  progress  possible 
while  the  ships  were  in  good  condition  and  the  men  disposed 
for  the  adventure.  Terreros  duly  delivered  both  message 
and  letters.  Ovando's  answer  to  the  former  was  a  flat  refusal, 
1  Report  of  the  comptroller  Porras. 


430      THE  LAST    VOYAGES    OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

and  a  demand  that  the  Admiral  proceed  on  his  course 
without  even  landing  on  the  coast,  much  less  coming  to 
San  Domingo.  His  motive  was,  obviously  enough,  to  pre 
vent  any  conflict  between  the  Admiral's  partisans  and  those 
of  Bobadilla  and  Roldan.  Both  the  latter  worthies,  with 
numbers  of  their  adherents,  had  been  arrested,  and  were 
then  on  board  the  vessels  of  the  fleet  which  had  brought  out 
the  Governor  and  was  just  on  the  eve  of  sailing  again  for 
Spain,  and  feeling  ran  so  high  in  the  city  that  a  disturbance 
could  hardly  have  been  averted  had  Columbus  appeared  on 
the  scene.  There  were  other  ways,  however,  in  which  the 
asked-for  succor  might  have  been  rendered  without  endan 
gering  the  peace,  and  the  ungracious  rejection  of  his  appeal 
cut  the  Admiral  to  the  quick.  It  had,  moreover,  the  serious 
effect,  when  generally  known,  of  undermining  his  authority 
among  his  own  men  ;  for  they  began  to  ask  themselves,  what 
kind  of  an  admiral  was  this  who  was  repulsed  from  one 
of  his  own  ports  by  a  governor  of  a  few  months'  standing  ? 
Although  he  felt  the  moral  effect  of  Ovando's  action  as 
keenly  as  the  material,  the  Admiral  did  not  allow  it  to 
affect  his  sense  of  right.  His  brief  detention  at  anchor 
had  changed  into  certainty  his  apprehensions  concerning 
the  approach  of  a  great  storm,  and  he  delayed  his  depart 
ure  long  enough  to  send  a  second  messenger  to  Ovando, 
entreating  him  not  to  permit  the  fleet  to  leave  the  harbor 
until  the  weather  changed,  and  that  he  was  going  to  seek 
a  safe  shelter  for  his  own  little  squadron  further  along  the 
coast.  To  this  warning  neither  the  Governor  nor  his  people 
paid  heed.  The  fact  that  the  former  Viceroy  had  been 
denied  entrance  was  notorious,  and  his  presumption  in 
forecasting  the  weather  only  resulted  in  the  seamen  and 
hangers-on  about  the  town  jeering  him  for  a  would-be 
soothsayer  and  prophet.  The  Admiral  took  refuge  with 
his  four  vessels  in  the  port  of  Hermoso,  some  sixty  miles 
west  of  San  Domingo ;  the  Governor's  fleet  stood  bravely 
out  to  sea  carrying  Bobadilla,  Roldan,  the  ill-starred  Guari- 
onex,  the  native  King  of  the  Vega  Real,  a  large  number  of 
other  prisoners,  both  native  and  Spanish,  and  upwards  of 
200,000  castellanos  in  gold  —  the  product  of  the  alleged 


ANTICIPATING  MAGELLAN.  431 

worthless  mines  of  Bonao  ana  Cibao.  Within  forty-eight 
hours  a  terrific  hurricane  swept  over  the  region,  which,  on 
shore,  utterly  destroyed  the  ill-built  town,  and,  at  sea,  foun 
dered  more  than  twenty  out  of  the  thirty  or  thirty-one 
vessels  composing  the  homeward-bound  fleet.  Las  Casas, 
who  then  experienced  his  first  hurricane,  aptly  says,  that  "  it 
seemed  like  nothing  so  much  as  that  the  whole  army  of 
devils  had  broken  loose  from  hell,"  and  the  description  has 
never  been  surpassed.  All  the  Crown  gold  and  the  prisoners 
were  lost ;  neither  man  nor  boy  escaping  from  the  over 
whelmed  ships.  The  squadron  of  Columbus,  on  the  other 
hand,  although  driven  from  its  anchorage,  widely  scattered 
and  subjected  to  imminent  peril,  was  able  to  reunite  after 
the  storm,  without  the  loss  of  a  life.  The  most  singular 
incident  in  this  whole  strange  episode  is,  that  of  the  handful 
of  Ovando's  ships  which  escaped  destruction,  that  which 
bore  the  Admiral's  property  —  or  so  much  of  it  as  Carvajal 
had  been  able  to  collect  in  the  few  weeks  which  had  elapsed 
since  Ovando's  displacement  of  Bobadilla  —  was  one.1 

After  repairing  damages  in  Port  Hermoso  the  Admiral 
laid  his  course  for  Jamaica,  but  was  forced  to  put  into  the 
port  of  Brazil,  or  Jacmel  as  our  maps  call  it,  to  ride  out 
another  gale  which  was  brewing.  Hence  he  sailed  on  the 
1 4th  of  July,  and,  in  the  face  of  such  weather,  that,  to  use 
his  own  phrase,  he  had  to  "creep  on  all  fours,"  arrived 
two  days  later  at  the  Morant  keys,  off  the  Jamaican  coast. 
His  usual  pertinacity,  or  rather  obstinacy,  in  standing  watch 
at  times  of  peril,  brought  on  a  fresh  attack  of  gout,  which 
was  but  the  prelude  to  the  illness  which  crippled  him  during 
this  cruise  and  the  succeeding  years  of  his  life.  After 

1  Doubt  has  been  cast  upon  the  alleged  warning  sent  by  Columbus 
to  Ovando,  on  the  ground  that  the  former  does  not  mention  it.  As  he 
knew  nothing  of  its  effects  until  long  after,  and  as  he  had  other  things 
to  do  than  write  letters  at  the  time,  this  objection  seems  scarcely  well 
taken.  Las  Casas,  who  was  in  San  Domingo  at  the  time,  gives  a 
circumstantial  account,  which  we  have  followed.  As  to  the  charge 
that  Columbus  recklessly  disobeyed  their  Majesties'  orders  not  to  touch 
at  San  Domingo,  we  think  the  facts  stated  above  show  that  he  did  not 
violate  their  spirit,  but  acted  with  judgment  and  loyalty  in  an  unex 
pected  and  dangerous  emergency. 


432        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE   ADMIRAL. 

securing  a  scanty  supply  of  brackish  water  from  holes  sunk 
in  the  sand,  —  for  the  ships'  breakers  were  staved  or  other 
wise  damaged  by  the  gales,  —  he  put  to  sea  and  steered 
W.S.W.  This  course,  he  thought,  would  take  him  about 
midway  between  Cuba  and  the  southern  continent,  in  the 
direction  of  the  supposed  strait,  and  he  maintained  it  for 
four  days.  During  the  greater  part  of  this  time  the  winds 
were  light  and  fitful,  while  the  strong  currents  were  bearing 
him  resistlessly  to  the  south  and  west  of  Jamaica,  although 
land  was  not  seen.  The  next  four  days  were  passed  in 
drifting  so  rapidly  to  the  north  and  west,  that  on  the  24th 
of  July  the  squadron  was  actually  off  the  group  of  islands 
lying  along  the  southern  coast  of  Cuba,  which  he  had  christ 
ened  the  Queen's  Garden  when  he  discovered  them  on  his 
exploring  cruise  in  1494.  He  had,  indeed,  nearly  reached 
again  the  extreme  western  limit  of  that  cruise.  Only  a  few 
leagues  farther  on  were  the  island  of  Evangelista  and  that 
Gulf  of  Batabano  where  his  crew  had  given  their  much- 
derided  depositions  to  the  effect  that  Cuba  must  be  a  part 
of  Asia.  As  he  now  lay  at  anchor  among  the  islands  which 
had  then  so  impeded  his  navigation,  his  thoughts  were  on 
the  same  problem  whose  solution  had  at  that  time  so 
strongly  tempted  his  ambition.  Despite  the  lapse  of  years 
he  was  but  carrying  out  the  project  he  had  planned  among 
the  same  scenes,  —  to  sail  westward  around  the  globe  and 
return  to  Cadiz  by  way  of  the  Red  Sea  or  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope.  In  '94  he  had  found  the  coast  of  western 
Cuba  turning  toward  the  south,  and  had  assumed  that  it  was 
prolonged  indefinitely  in  that  quarter.  Since  then  he  had 
discovered  Paria,  and  its  shores  had  in  turn  been  explored 
for  1 200  miles  toward  the  west  by  his  imitators.  Some  of 
his  pilots  had  secured,  either  in  Hispaniola  or  in  Spain, 
notes  of  the  last  voyage  of  Bastidas,  wherein  the  coast  of 
the  southern  continent  was  represented  as  turning  north 
again  beyond  the  Gulf  of  Uraba,  —  or,  as  we  call  it,  Darien. 
If  such  were  the  case,  the  Admiral's  supposed  passage  into 
the  seas  of  the  Orient  would  lie  somewhere  to  the  southwest 
of  his  present  position :  it  could  not  lie  due  west,  for  he 
believed  the  Cuban  coast,  by  trending  southward  just  beyond 


ANTICIPATING  MAGELLAN.  433 

Evangelista  Island,  must  close  all  passage  in  that  quarter ; 
and  it  did  not  lie  south,  since  the  new  mainland  was  there. 
Consequently,  after  passing  three  days  among  the  Queen's 
Garden,  he  weighed  anchor  and  steered  S.S.W. 

On  the  30th  of  July  land  was  sighted.  It  proved  to  be 
an  inhabited  island  of  considerable  extent,  and  Don  Barthol 
omew  went  ashore  to  learn  what  he  might  from  the  natives. 
They  came  to  meet  him  with  frankness,  and  differed  little 
from  the  Indians  of  the  other  islands.  They  called  their 
island  Guanaja1  and  their  cacique  Imibe.  They  did  not 
recognize  either  pearls  or  gold-dust  when  samples  of  these 
were  shown  them,  and  asked  the  Spaniards  to  give  them  the 
pretty  trifles.  Obviously,  nothing  was  to  be  gained  from 
such  barbarians,  and  Don  Bartholomew  was  on  his  way  back 
to  the  ships,  when  his  attention  was  arrested  by  two  canoes 
coming  along  the  shore  of  the  island  from  the  west.  Unlike 
any  he  had  before  seen,  one  of  the  crafts  had  a  neatly 
thatched  cabin  erected  in  its  stern.  It  was  propelled  by  a 
score  of  paddlers,  and  carried  a  number  of  women  and  chil 
dren.  On  discovering  the  Spanish  boats,  the  newcomers 
checked  their  headway,  and  allowed  themselves  to  be  cap 
tured,  not  without  remonstrance,  and  taken  off  to  the  Ad 
miral's  flagship.  If  their  boat  was  singular  its  contents  were 
far  more  so,  and  the  Spaniards  hailed,  with  gratified  surprise, 
the  evidences  of  approximate  civilization  which  met  their 
eyes.  The  canoe  seemed  to  be  abroad  on  a  trading  voyage, 
for  her  cargo  was  extensive  and  varied.  There  were  cloaks 
and  tunics  or  gowns  of  cotton,  finely  worked  and  skilfully 
dyed;  embroidered  waist-cloths  of  the  same  material; 
copper  hatchets ;  knives  chipped  out  from  obsidian ;  bells 
and  cups  of  copper ;  crucibles  for  melting  metals ;  a  large 
number  of  murderous-looking  two-handed  swords,  consist 
ing  of  a  heavy  wooden  blade  edged  with  sharp  flints  ;  and  a 
store  of  odd-looking  nuts,  which  the  Spaniards  thought  were 
a  new  kind  of  almond,  but  which  were,  in  fact,  the  cacao-bean.2 

1  Usually  spelled  Bonacca  on  our  charts.    With  its  neighbors  Ruatan 
and  Utila,  it  lies  north  of  Truxillo  on  the  coast  of  Honduras. 

2  The  common  medium  of  exchange,  it  will  be  remembered,  in  the 
Aztec  Empire. 

28 


434        THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

Men,  as  well  as  women,  showed  a  modesty  of  dress  and 
demeanor  when  in  the  presence  of  their  captors  which 
was  entirely  novel  in  the  latter's  experience.  It  was  ap 
parent  even  to  the  common  sailors  that  these  were  people 
of  a  race  far  superior  to  those  of  Cuba,  Hispaniola,  and 
Paria,  while  to  the  Admiral  they  personified  the  long-sought 
empire  of  the  Grand  Khan.  Eleven  years  had  passed  since 
he  had  first  sought  the  Court  of  that  potentate  among  the 
dense  recesses  of  the  Cuban  forests,  and  with  the  single 
exception  of  one  gown-clad  figure,  alleged  to  have  been 
seen  on  his  second  Cuban  cruise,  not  a  garment  had  he 
seen  more  elaborate  than  the  breech-clouts  of  Paria  among 
the  tribes  of  the  New  World.  To  find  a  people  with  a  sense 
of  propriety  and  shame,  becomingly  —  if  simply  —  dressed, 
familiar  with  the  arts  of  metal-working,  and  possessing  im 
proved  implements  of  war,  was  to  him  proof  positive  that 
he  had  at  last  touched  the  borders  of  the  hitherto  elusive 
Orient. 

In  reply  to  his  eager  interrogatories,  limited  as  they  were 
to  the  Haytian  dialect  and  to  such  gestures  as  might  be 
helpful,  the  strangers  seemed  genuinely  anxious  to  give 
him  information.  As  far  as  they  were  understood  they 
apparently  said  they  came  from  a  country  called  Ciguare", 
about  nine  days'  journey  to  the  west.  Gold  was  plentiful 
in  that  region ;  the  princes  and  nobles  wore  coronets  and 
bracelets  of  the  precious  metal,  and  possessed  chairs, 
tables,  and  coffers  plated  with  it.  Corals,  pearls,  and  spices 
abounded  in  their  favored  land,  and  their  King  had  ships 
and  cannon,  weapons  and  shields,  —  yes,  and  horses,  too,  — 
such  as  were  described  by  the  strange  white  men  who  were 
asking  questions.  An  ocean  washed  the  shores  of  Ciguare, 
but  not  the  one  on  which  they  were ;  and  ten  days  beyond 
their  country  was  a  river  called  the  Ganges  !  Such,  at  least, 
was  the  interpretation  given  by  Columbus  to  the  replies  he 
received,  and  none  of  the  disasters  or  disappointments  sub 
sequently  encountered  on  this  ill-starred  voyage  caused  him 
to  abandon  this  belief;  rather  did  he  find  what  he  con 
sidered  supporting  evidence  as  he  pursued  his  course.  To 
him  the  only  question  calling  for  reflection  was  the  direction 


ANTICIPATING  MAGELLAN.  435 

to  be  followed  in  reaching  the  gorgeous  realms  of  which  he 
had  heard,  and  to  assist  in  the  search,  he  induced  an  old 
man  among  his  informants  to  join  the  Spaniards  as  guide,  or 
pilot.  The  other  occupants  of  the  canoe  were  dismissed, 
after  having  exchanged  their  native  wares  for  Castilian 
gew-gaws. 

From  Guanaja  the  Admiral  steered  for  a  coast  line  visible 
some  forty  miles  to  the  south,  whose  length  and  lofty  sum 
mits  indicated  a  land  of  greater  extent.  Reaching  a  cape, 
which  he  christened  Caxinas,1  he  found  the  coast  extending 
east  and  west  as  far  as  it  could  be  traced.  Which  direction 
should  he  follow?  His  Indian  guide,  when  pressed  to  show 
the  quarter  in  which  the  gold  was  so  abundant,  pointed  to 
the  east,  and  enumerated  the  names  of  various  provinces. 
The  canoe  which  bore  so  significant  a  lading  had  come  from 
the  west.  Upon  the  decision  hung  the  failure  or  success  of 
his  undertaking,  and  in  turning  his  bows  eastward,  Columbus 
left  to  Grijalva  and  Francisco  Hernandez  the  glory  of  find 
ing  Mexico.  There  must  have  been  some  convincing  reason 
which  led  him  thus  to  take  a  direction  which  was  that  of 
Spain  rather  than  of  Cathay.  The  deciding  motive  is  usually 
attributed  to  the  Indian's  indication  of  gold,  but  that  is  in 
sufficient,  for  on  none  of  his  exploring  voyages  did  Columbus 
subordinate  his  greater  objective  to  the  amassing  of  treasure  ; 
he  was  content  to  learn  where  such  existed.  Certainly  on 
no  other  cruise  had  he  before  him  a  more  seductive  goal 
than  on  the  present,  and  if  he  turned  the  stern  of  his  ships 
to  the  setting  sun  it  was  for  some  commanding  reason.  We 
think  this  is  furnished  in  his  persistent  faith  in  the  conti 
nental  character  of  Cuba.  Searching  for  a  passage  into  the 
eastern  seas,  and  believing  that  the  Cuban  coast  swept 
around  indefinitely  to  the  west  and  south,  he  would  have 
argued  that  the  coast  on  which  he  was  now  was  but  the  ex 
tension  of  the  northern  continent.  To  proceed  westward 
would  only  entail  ultimately  a  return  to  the  already  twice  fol 
lowed  track  along  the  southern  shores  of  Cuba.  In  that 
direction  there  could  be  no  access  to  the  East  by  water.  By 
following  the  new  coast  eastward,  on  the  contrary,  he  would 
1  The  modern  Cape  Honduras. 


436        THE   LAST   VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

doubtless  find  the  passage  which  led  to  Ciguare",  Cathay, 
and  the  Ganges,  at  some  point  between  his  present  position 
and  the  limit  of  Bastidas'  cruise  along  the  coasts  of  Terra 
Firma.  Las  Casas  intimates  as  much,  when  he  says  that 
Columbus  hoped  to  find  the  passage  in  about  the  latitude  of 
what  we  know  as  the  Chagres  River.  But  we  have  yet  more 
convincing  proof  that  the  Admiral's  object  in  steering  east  was 
not  to  find  gold,  but  finally  to  reach  the  strait  which  should 
take  him  westward  again  into  the  seas  which  washed  Cathay. 
When,  in  1517,  Francisco  Hernandez  de  Cordova  sailed 
for  Cuba  on  a  slaving  expedition  to  the  Guanajas  and 
Honduras,  he  was  persuaded  by  his  pilot,  Anton  de  Ala- 
minos,  to  sail  westward  instead,  on  the  certainty  of  finding 
lands  of  surpassing  wealth.  Fifteen  years  before,  the  shrewd 
mariner  had  been  a  common  sailor  aboard  the  Admiral's 
flagship  on  the  cruise  we  are  now  describing.  He  had  ob 
served  that  his  commander  acted  on  information  of  the  ex 
istence  of  regions  of  vast  importance  in  the  West  and  guided 
himself  accordingly,  but  was  compelled  ultimately  by  the 
loss  of  some  of  his  ships  to  abandon  the  search.  Alaminos, 
however,  had  closely  observed  all  that  occurred,  and  when 
the  Admiral  turned  back  without  finding  the  strait,  his 
watchful  sailor  knew  that  the  anxiously  sought  western  pas 
sage  must  lie  north  of  Honduras,  if  it  existed  at  all.  He 
and  Francisco  Hernandez  did  not  find  it  in  1517,  but  they 
did  find  Cozumel  and  Yucatan  to  such  good  purpose  that, 
in  1519,  the  same  pilot  undertook  to  guide  Hernan  Cortez 
upon  his  voyage  of  conquest.  Thus,  ultimately,  was  the 
discovery  and  downfall  of  the  Aztec  Empire  associated  with 
the  "  old  Admiral's  "  decision  to  turn  eastward  from  Caxinas 
Point.  The  grandeur  of  his  aims,  and  the  information  under 
which  he  acted,  survived  the  wreck  of  his  own  attempt.  By 
pursuing  the  direction  which  he  abandoned,  and  profiting  by 
his  negative  experience,  one  of  his  seamen  was  able  to  unveil 
the  empire  whose  vaguely  described  marvels  had  so  deeply 
impressed  the  great  navigator  with  the  proximity  of  the 
Asiatic  courts.1 

1  Prof.  Fiske  suggests  that  the  Admiral  was  guided  in  his  choice  of 
direction  by  Pedro  de  Ledesma,  one  of  his  pilots,  who  had  been  with 


ANTICIPATING  MAGELLAN.  437 

Having  determined  to  follow  the  coast  to  the  eastward, 
the  Admiral  found  his  progress  barred  by  a  succession  of 
violent  storms  from  that  quarter  which  compelled  the 
squadron  to  remain  under  the  shelter  of  the  point  for  sev 
eral  days.  A  landing  was  made  to  permit  the  priest  to  hold 
Mass,  and  the  Spaniards  were  received  by  the  natives  with 
fearless  frankness.  On  the  occasion  of  Don  Bartholomew's 
taking  formal  possession  of  the  country  a  day  or  two  later, 
at  the  river  he  called  the  River  of  Possession  and  we  the 
Black  River,  the  Indians  appeared  with  abundant  supplies 
of  food  and  fruits  which  they  pressed  upon  their  visitors, 
who  in  turn  distributed  bells,  needles,  and  looking-glasses. 
The  natives  called  their  country  Maia,  and  although  many 
of  them  were  adorned  no  otherwise  than  as  nature  made 
them,  plus  a  coating  of  charcoal  or  paint,  others  wore 
colored  gowns  or  caps.  This  raiment,  scanty  as  it  was, 
coupled  with  the  fact  that  "  lions  "  and  other  large  quad 
rupeds  were  said  to  haunt  the  forests,  tended  to  confirm 
the  Admiral's  confidence  that  he  was  on  the  right  road  to 
reach  the  kingdoms  of  the  East,  and  increased  his  impatience 
to  continue  his  journey.  But  the  elements  were  incessantly 
opposed  to  him,  and  he  had  to  fight  his  way  in  the  teeth  of 
almost  continuous  gales  and  a  strong  adverse  current.  For 
days  at  a  time  the  average  progress  would  amount  only  to  a 
few  miles,  despite  a  constant  tacking  off  and  on  shore  while 
daylight  lasted.  On  some  days,  he  says,  he  could  only 
make  a  single  mile,  and  the  current  ran  so  strong  that  his 
lead  could  not  reach  the  bottom.  At  night  the  squadron 
came  to  anchor  as  best  it  could,  for  the  coast  was  not  one 
to  encourage  rashness.  On  the  i2th  of  September  the 
arduous  struggles  came  to  an  end  for  the  time  being,  for  the 
eastward  trend  of  the  coast  terminated  abruptly  in  a  long 

Pinzon,  Soils,  and  Vespucci  on  the  assumed  voyage  of  1497  to  Yucatan, 
Mexico,  and  Florida,  and  who  was  therefore  necessarily  aware  that  no 
strait  existed  to  the  north  and  west  of  Honduras.  But  both  Pinzon 
and  Ledesma  swore,  in  1513,  in  the  great  cause  of  Columbus  vs.  the 
Crown,  that  their  Yucatan- Florida  voyage  was  made  after  the  Admiral's 
discovery  of  Veragua  and  search  for  the  strait.  (Navarette,  Vol.  III., 
p.  558,  pregunta  IO.)  We  make  this  mention  in  no  spirit  of  captious- 
ness. 


438        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

narrow  cape,  beyond  which  the  land  seemed  to  run  due 
south.  The  change  of  direction,  which  was  accomplished 
only  after  a  long  and  stormy  contest,  brought  with  it  im 
proved  weather,  and  the  Admiral  gave  the  name  of  Gracias 
a  Dios  to  the  cape  in  thanksgiving  for  the  relief  from  the 
distressing  experiences  of  the  last  few  weeks.  In  truth,  the 
exploration  had  opened  in  a  manner  little  calculated  to 
encourage  the  superstitious  sailors  or  their  commander. 
Since  leaving  Caxinas,  if  not  since  leaving  the  Keys  of 
Jamaica,  neither  sun  nor  stars  had  been  visible.1 

"  My  vessels  were  yawning  open/'  he  writes,  "  their  sails  in 
rags ;  anchors,  rigging,  cables,  boats,  and  much  provision  lost ; 
the  ships'  companies  enfeebled ;  all  repenting  of  their  sins  and 
many  promising  to  be  religious ;  not  a  man  without  some  vow 
or  promised  pilgrimage.  On  frequent  occasions  they  even  con 
fessed  their  sins  to  one  another.  Other  tempests  there  have 
been,  but  none  which  lasted  so  long  or  caused  such  fear.  Time 
and  time  again  those  we  considered  courageous  lost  all  heart. 
Grief  for  the  son  whom  I  had  brought  with  me  tormented  my 
soul ;  all  the  more  because  at  the  tender  age  of  13  he  was  called 
upon  to  support  such  prolonged  hardships.  Our  Lord  gave  him 
such  strength  that  he  revived  the  spirits  of  the  others,  comforted 
me,  and  shared  the  work  as  though  he  had  been  at  sea  for  eighty 
years.  I  had  fallen  ill  and  was  at  death's  door  several  times. 
From  a  little  cabin  which  I  caused  to  be  built  on  deck  I  directed 
the  ships'  movements.  My  brother  was  in  the  worst  and  most 
dangerous  vessel.  Great  was  my  regret  on  his  account,  for  I 
had  brought  him  against  his  will ;  but  such  has  been  my  fortune 
that  the  20  years  of  service  which  I  have  passed  with  such  con 
stant  toil  and  peril  have  profited  me  so  little  that  I  have  not 
to-day  in  Spain  a  roof  of  my  own." 

From  this  point,  pursuing  a  southerly  course,  the  Admiral 
found  the  winds  and  currents  favoring  him  for  several  days. 
At  the  mouth  of  a  river,  which  he  baptized  "  the  Disaster," 
he  lost  one  of  his  boats  with  its  crew,  who  were  attempting 
to  cross  the  bar  in  search  of  firewood ;  but  in  comparison 
with  the  dangers  to  which  all  hands  had  been  so  long  ex- 

1  "  For  88  days  the  terrible  storm  did  not  leave  me,"  is  the  Admiral's 
comment,  but  there  is  an  evident  error  in  transcription  or  of  memory. 
His  report  was  not  written  until  July,  1503,  and  he  was  then  in  extreme 
misery  and  distress. 


ANTICIPATING  MAGELLAN.  439 

posed,  the  smaller  catastrophe  made  little  impression.  The 
region  about  Gracias  a  Dios  was  flat  and  uninteresting,  and 
the  few  natives  seen  were  in  keeping  with  their  surroundings. 
As  the  squadron  proceeded  south,  however,  both  the  country 
and  its  inhabitants  improved  in  appearance.  By  the  i  yth 
of  the  month  a  point  was  reached  where  the  coast  presented 
the  aspect  of  a  veritable  park ;  the  shore  was  covered  with 
forests  of  exquisite  beauty,  a  broad  river  poured  its  waters 
into  the  sea  between  banks  of  vine-hung  trees,  a  wide  beach 
of  dazzling  sand  ran  to  the  forest's  edge,  while  a  chain  of 
rugged  cloud-capped  mountains,  rising  some  distance  in  the 
interior,  furnished  an  imposing  background.  Fronting  the 
river's  mouth  was  a  verdant  island  affording  a  safe  and  invit 
ing  anchorage,  while  a  large  village  on  the  mainland  seemed 
to  be  peopled  with  natives  of  a  better  class  than  those  seen 
since  the  arrival  at  Port  Caxinas.  Here  the  Admiral  deter 
mined  to  remain  for  some  days  to  allow  his  men  a  little 
liberty  after  their  arduous  voyage,  and  to  make  such  repairs 
about  his  ships  and  their  rigging  as  the  stormy  passage  had 
made  necessary.  The  Indians  at  first  resented  the  intrusion 
of  the  strangers,  gathering  in  force  upon  the  beach  near 
their  town,  and  exhibiting  a  formidable  array  of  bows,  lances, 
and  great  wooden  swords ;  but  seeing  that  no  harm  was 
intended,  they  soon  swam  out  to  the  vessels  and  indicated 
a  desire  to  be  friendly.  They  had  nothing  to  barter  except 
their  bright-hued  cotton  gowns  and  a  few  ornaments  of 
guanin,  or  base  gold,  and  these  the  Admiral  declined  to 
receive,  in  the  belief  that  such  indifference  would  lead  them 
to  produce  their  more  valuable  possessions.  He  caused  his 
visitors  to  be  well  treated  and  enriched  with  Spanish  trinkets, 
and  was  much  surprised  when  his  men,  on  landing  for  the 
first  time,  found  the  gifts  all  neatly  tied  up  and  lying  on  the 
beach,  as  if  in  intimation  that  the  natives  on  reaching  home 
had  decided  not  to  accept  anything  except  in  the  way  of 
fair  trade.  To  propitiate  the  Spaniards,  they  even  went  so 
far  as  to  send  down  to  the  boats  a  couple  of  not  unduly 
bashful  maidens,  in  charge  of  an  elderly  chief  who  bore  a 
flag  fixed  on  a  lance  for  all  the  world  like  a  Christian  mes 
senger.  The  prompt  return  from  the  ships  of  the  young 


440        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

women,  decked  out  in  Castilian  garments  by  the  Admiral's 
orders,  served  to  establish  confidence  between  the  Indians 
and  the  Spaniards,  and  opened  the  way  for  frank  communi 
cation.  Don  Bartholomew  made  several  visits  to  their  settle 
ment  during  the  succeeding  days  and  was  received  with 
much  honor.  He  found  the  natives  to  possess  keen  curiosity 
coupled  with  much  intelligence.  Their  chiefs  and  principal 
men  answered  his  inquiries  with  apparent  readiness,  and  only 
showed  apprehension  when  the  notary  accompanying  Don 
Bartholomew  drew  out  his  writing  materials  and  began  to 
take  notes  of  their  replies.  At  this  they  fled  in  confusion, 
and  when  they  were  finally  induced  to  return  took  care  to 
burn  certain  fragrant  powders  and  blow  the  smoke  towards 
the  Christians  before  joining  them  again.  Evidently  they 
looked  upon  the  worthy  Diego  Mendez  and  his  ink-marks 
as  allied  with  the  Evil  One.  They  called  their  own  district 
Cariari,  or  Cariay ;  the  island  fronting  it,  Quiriviri.1  Their 
gold  came  from  mines  in  the  interior ;  there  was  much  also 
in  the  country  of  Carambaru,  or  Azabaro,  which  adjoined 
their  own  to  the  south.  Their  houses  were  well  built,  and 
in  many  of  them  the  mummied  corpses  of  defunct  relatives 
were  preserved,  surrounded  by  the  articles  they  had  most 
highly  prized.  A  certain  amount  of  skill  in  wood-carving 
was  exhibited  in  these  houses,  and  the  people  were,  gen 
erally  speaking,  somewhat  more  advanced  in  their  mode  of 
life  than  those  of  Hayti  and  the  other  islands.  When,  after 
several  days  of  intercourse  between  the  ships  and  the  shore, 
the  Admiral  ordered  two  of  their  most  intelligent  men  to  be 
brought  off  to  the  flagship,  to  serve  as  guides  to  the  coast 
of  Carambaru,  there  was  a  great  lamentation.  Four  chiefs 
came  aboard  to  beg  for  the  release  of  their  fellow- tribesmen, 
and  although  loaded  with  presents  and  assured  that  the  men 
should  be  restored  in  a  few  days,  they  declined  to  be  con 
soled.  In  particular  did  they  resent  the  Admiral's  refusal  to 
exchange  them  for  two  wild-hogs,  or  peccaries,  which  the 

1  The  modern  Bluefields  is  supposed  to  correspond  to  the  Cariay 
of  Columbus  by  some  geographers,  while  others  believe  it  to  be  Gray- 
town  in  Nicaragua.  The  former  site  seems  more  closely  to  answer  the 
description  given  of  Cariay  and  its  adjacent  island. 


ANTICIPATING  MAGELLAN.  441 

chiefs  had  liberally  provided  as  an  offset.  Apparently  they 
thought  that  the  Christians  had  seized  the  men  as  an  addi 
tion  to  their  larder,  and  considered  the  pigs  as  a  fair  equiva 
lent.  The  guides  themselves  do  not  seem  to  have  shared 
their  friends'  apprehension  as  to  their  fate,  for  we  find  them 
later  on  aiding  the  Spaniards  efficiently  in  persuading  the 
natives  that  scraps  of  looking-glass  were  more  valuable  than 
ornaments  of  massive  gold. 

On  October  5th  the  Admiral  left  his  anchorage  off  Cariay 
and  stood  southward  in  quest  of  Carambaru.1  What  he 
gathered,  or  inferred,  from  the  Indians  of  the  former  dis 
trict  concerning  the  latter  had  excited  a  lively  expectation 
in  his  mind,  for  the  name  had  already  been  repeated  as  a 
place  abounding  in  gold  by  the  Indians  taken  on  board  at 
Guanaja.  To  Columbus  there  seemed  to  be  reasons  why 
the  inland  gold  mines  mentioned  by  the  people  of  Cariay 
must  be  in  the  Asiatic  province  of  Ciamba,  a  part  of  the 
gorgeous  Orient  he  was  seeking.  One  of  the  sailors  had 
killed  an  enormous  monkey  in  the  woods  while  the  ships 
were  last  lying  at  anchor,  and  the  beast  recalled  to  the 
Admiral  some  of  the  accounts  given  by  Marco  Polo  of  such 
monsters  in  the  great  eastern  islands.  At  many  places  along 
shore  huge  "  crocodiles  "  were  basking,  —  another  sugges 
tion  of  the  Nile  and  Ganges.  Moreover,  the  shores  of  the 
ocean  were  in  many  places  covered  with  dense  shrubbery 
down  to  the  water's  edge  ;  the  bushes  fantastically  standing 
on  long  stilt-like  roots,  so  interlaced  that  they  seemed  to 
belong  to  a  single  bush  of  vast  extent ;  and  such  growths 
were  described  by  Pliny  as  usual  to  the  quiet  waters  of  the 
Persian  Gulf.  These  and  similar  observations  lent  color  to 
the  conceptions  engendered  by  the  meeting  with  the  trading 
canoes  at  Guanaja,  and  inspired  the  Admiral  with  fresh 
hopes.  If  his  inferences  were  well  founded,  he  should  find 
the  strait  ere  long,  and  through  it  reach  the  provinces  which 
lay  behind  Cariay  and  the  coast  regions  he  was  skirting. 

1  The  Caravaro  of  Las  Casas;  Zerabora  of  Fernando  Columbus; 
Cerabaro  of  Porras  and  Peter  Martyr,  and  Azabaro  of  Pedro  de 
Ledesma.  This  one  example  will  suffice  to  show  the  latitude  enjoyed 
by  the  contemporary  chroniclers  in  the  matter  of  geographical  names. 
The  list  of  variations  might  be  still  further  extended. 


442        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

A  single  day's  sail  brought  the  squadron  to  a  group  of 
islands  guarding  the  entrance  to  a  great  bay.     This,  accord 
ing  to  the  guides,  was  the  region  Carambaru,1  and  the  vessels 
passed  into  the   quiet  lagoon  and   dropped   anchor.     The 
ships'  boats  visited  the  islands,  secured  a  few  golden  orna 
ments  by  barter,  and  returned  with  the  report  that  a  little 
further  along  yet  greater  riches  would  be  found.     Accord 
ingly,  on  the  same  day,  the  vessels  got  under  way,  thread 
ing  channels  so  narrow  that  oftentimes  the  spars  and  rigging 
were  swept  by  overhanging  trees,  and  rounded  a  point  beyond 
which  the  land-locked  waters   expanded  into  an  immense 
lake,  studded  with  highly  cultivated  and  well-peopled  islets. 
This  gulf  was  called  Aburena  by  the  Indian  guides,  although 
it  practically  formed  with  Carambaru  Bay  the  great  connect 
ing  lagoon  which  we  call  by  the  name  of  Chiriqui.     Here  the 
Admiral  spent  several  days,  confined  to  his  bed,  but  listening 
with  eager  interest  to  the  reports  brought  him  by  Don  Bar 
tholomew  and  the  other  captains  who  explored  all  parts  of 
.the  beautiful  sound  and  the  adjacent  mainland.     They  found 
the  natives   supplied  with  golden   trinkets  in  greater  pro 
fusion  than  they  had  before  seen.     Almost  every  adult  wore 
the  grotesque  figure  of  some  beast  or  bird,  or  a  heavy  medal, 
hanging  from  his  neck,  while  necklaces,  armlets,  and  coro 
nets  were  equally  plentiful.     Under  the  guileless  urging  of 
the  Cariay  guides,  the  Indians  of  Carambaru  and  Aburena 
jostled  one  another  in  their  anxiety  to  exchange  their  vulgar 
baubles  for  the  rare  treasures  of  Castile,  and  in  the  compe 
tition,  ornaments  weighing  a  quarter  of  a  pound  and  even 
more  of  solid  gold  were  bartered  for  a  few  needles  or  two 
or  three    little    hawk-bells.     At   one   spot,  —  so    Pedro   de 
Ledesma,    one    of  the    Admiral's    pilots,    affirms,  —  eighty 
canoes  were  gathered   about  the   ships  at  one   time,  their 
occupants    bent  upon   securing  a  share    of  the  wonderful 
objects  offered  by  the  white  men.     So  little  store  did  they 
set  by  the  yellow  stuff  that  they  did  not  hesitate  to  tell  the 
strangers  that  it  could  be  had  in  still  greater  abundance  by 
simply  continuing  on  along  the  coast.     In  this  the  Cariay 
guides  concurred,  intimating  that  although  their  own  tribe 
1  The  "  Admiral's  Bay  "  of  modern  maps. 


ANTICIPATING  MAGELLAN.  443 

drew  its  supply  of  jewelry  from  these  two  lagoons,  they 
were  aware  that  the  metal  was  found  more  plentifully  a  little 
more  to  the  eastward,  and  they  named  half  a  dozen  locali 
ties  where,  they  said,  the  Spaniards  should  go.  Among  the 
uncouth  sounds  which  represented  these  several  goals  two 
were  more  distinctly  caught  than  the  others,  Veragua  and 
Cobija.  The  former  seemed  to  be  considered  the  district 
of  chief  importance  on  the  whole  coast,  and  the  latter  to  be 
the  end  either  of  navigation  or  of  the  gold  —  which,  was  not 
plain. 

Under  this  incentive  the  Admiral  resumed  his  voyage, 
taking  with  him  two  of  the  Aburenians  as  additional  guides. 
Passing  out  of  the  lagoons  into  the  open  sea,  he  found 
the  coast-line,  which  had  been  running  uniformly  south 
since  he  left  Cape  Gracias  a  Dios,  now  trended  due  east, 
and  the  country  inland  seemed  increasingly  rough  and 
mountainous.  The  winds  and  currents  were  more  adverse 
than  before,  twenty-five  miles  was  considered  a  good  day's 
progress,  and  the  rains  fell  without  intermission.  Notwith 
standing  these  drawbacks,  the  squadron  forged  along,  the 
boats  being  sent  to  examine  every  river-mouth  and  trade 
with  every  village,  with  a  result  on  the  whole  encouraging. 
The  seamen  had  become  infected  with  the  trader's  spirit, 
and  felt  aggrieved  when  a  native  settlement  failed  to  yield 
its  dozen  or  score  of  golden  pieces.  As  a  rule,  the  Indians 
showed  a  readiness  to  receive  the  white  men ;  at  only  one 
place,  a  river  near  Aburena,  did  they  offer  resistance,  and 
then,  although  well  armed  with  savage  weapons,  they  con 
tented  themselves  with  beating  drums,  sounding  conch- 
shells,  spitting  and  splashing  the  sea-water  towards  the 
intruders.  A  cannon-shot  over  their  heads,  and  a  bolt  sent 
from  a  cross-bow  through  the  arm  of  one  of  the  most 
aggressive  of  their  number,  put  an  end  to  this  mild  exhibi 
tion  of  independence.  Duraba,  Cativa,  Hurira,  Cobrava, 
—  these  are  some  of  the  names  given  by  the  inhabitants  to 
their  hamlets,  streams,  or  districts  lying  eastward  from  the 
great  lagoon.  The  Spaniards  were,  in  fact,  creeping  labori 
ously  along  the  jungle-bordered  shore  which  stretches  from 
Chiriqui  along  the  Isthmus  of  Panama.  At  the  mouth  of 


444        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE   ADMIRAL. 

the  Veragua  River,  or  in  its  vicinity,  they  obtained,  accord 
ing  to  Pedro  de  Ledesma,  ninety  marks  —  upwards  of  forty 
pounds'  weight  —  of  gold  in  exchange  for  three  dozen  little 
copper  bells.  A  few  leagues  beyond,  they  reached  the  coun 
try  called  Cobija,  and  here  the  four  native  guides  proclaimed 
that  the  gold  ended ;  beyond  was  nothing  to  be  had  worth 
the  taking.  The  appearance  of  the  people,  who  differed 
little  from  those  of  Paria,  bore  out  the  assertion,  for  golden 
ornaments  were  as  rare  among  them  as  they  had  been  com 
mon  farther  up  the  coast.  Before  continuing  his  search  for 
the  strait,  the  Admiral  proposed  to  send  Don  Bartholomew 
into  the  interior  of  the  Veragua  country,  whence,  the  guides 
declared,  came  all  the  gold  which  had  been  seen  along  the 
coast ;  but  the  evening  before  this  expedition  was  to  land 
so  violent  a  gale  arose  that  he  was  forced  to  stand  out  to 
sea  for  security.  As  soon  as  he  dared  approach  land,  he 
fought  his  way  along-shore  in  search  of  a  harbor.  About 
thirty  miles  beyond  the  Chagres l  he  found  an  ideal  haven, 
protected  against  the  easterly  gales  by  a  cape  and  several 
small  islands.  Anchoring  here,  he  was  forced  to  wait  ten 
days  before  daring  to  leave  port,  during  which  time  the  gales 
and  torrential  rains  continued  unceasingly.  The  beauty  of 
the  harbor,  with  its  orderly  Indian  village  nestling  among 
the  forests  and  clearings,  was  such  that  even  the  gloomy 
weather  could  not  destroy  its  charm,  and  he  christened  it 
Puerto  Bello,  —  a  name  made  famous  in  succeeding  years 
through  the  exploits  of  the  Buccaneers.  The  persistence  of 
violent  storms,  and  the  doubtful  safety  of  turning  from  his 
main  object  during  their  continuance,  soon  led  the  Admiral 
to  abandon  his  intended  investigation  of  the  mines  of  Vera 
gua.  "  I  looked  upon  them  as  already  secured,"  are  his 
own  words ;  as  in  the  case  of  Cuba,  Jamaica,  and  Paria, 
having  made  the  main  discovery,  he  would  leave  to  others 
the  exploration  of  their  secrets.  So  when,  on  the  gth  of 
November,  the  storm  moderated,  he  weighed  anchor,  and 
again  attempted  to  run  to  the  eastward.  After  making  thirty 
miles  of  perilous  navigation,  he  abandoned  the  attempt  and 
turned  back  to  a  port  some  fifteen  miles  farther  east  than 
1  Called  Rio  de  los  Lagartos  —  Alligator  River  —  by  the  Admiral. 


ANTICIPATING  MAGELLAN.  445 

his  last  anchorage.  The  general  cultivation  of  the  islands 
and  coast  about  this  new  harbor  suggested  the  name  of 
Bastimentos,  —  provisions,  —  and  so  the  Admiral  called  it; 
but  we  know  it  better  as  Nombre  de  Dios,  the  famous  point 
of  departure  for  the  homeward  bound  treasure  galleons  of 
the  Spanish  kings.  For  two  weeks  the  now  battered  squad 
ron  lay  weather-bound.  At  the  end  of  that  time,  although 
the  storms  had  not  entirely  ceased,  the  ships  again  essayed 
to  make  head  against  the  combined  strength  of  the  winds 
and  currents.  This  time  sixty  miles  of  coast  were  painfully 
passed,  and  the  ships  had  nearly  reached  the  modern  Cape 
San  Bias l  when  the  forces  against  which  they  were  strug 
gling  gained  the  mastery,  and  literally  drove  them  back. 
Running  for  Bastimentos,  the  Admiral  hove  to  off  a  narrow 
inlet  under  the  lee  of  San  Bias  where  there  was  promise 
of  nearer  shelter.  Soundings  showed  a  safe,  if  intricate, 
entrance,  and  here  the  ships  were,  with  difficulty,  brought 
to  anchor  in  the  diminutive  basin.  From  its  cramped 
dimensions  the  Admiral  called  the  spot  El  Retrete,  —  the 
Cabinet,  —  but  our  charts  designate  it  as  Escribanos.  The 
neighborhood  was  thickly  populated  by  a  tribe  of  Indians 
who  resented  the  freedom  of  the  Spanish  sailors,  and  some 
preliminary  skirmishes  led  to  the  use,  in  self-defence,  of 
the  white  men's  fire-arms.  It  was  the  first  time  on  this 
voyage  that  the  Admiral  had  permitted  the  use  of  force. 
Although  he  had  touched  at  more  villages  than  on  any  other 
of  his  voyages,  except  the  first,  so  far  not  a  native  had  been 
harmed  except  the  man  wounded  near  Aburena  by  a  sailor 
acting  without  orders.  But  at  this  anchorage  of  El  Retrete 
the  vessels  lay  so  close  to  the  bank  that  the  Indians  could 
have  set  them  on  fire  without  serious  trouble,  and  as  soon 
as  the  savages  showed  hostility,  —  whether  justified  or  not, 
—  it  was  imperatively  necessary  that  they  should  be  held 
at  arm's  length.  The  situation  of  the  Spaniards  was  becom- 

1  Called  by  the  Admiral,  Cape  Marmol,  or  Marble,  from  a  stuccoed 
house  or  temple  visible  from  the  ships.  As  the  only  stone  edifice  thus 
far  seen  in  the  Indies,  he  attached  much  importance  to  it,  going  so  far 
as  to  obtain  a  fragment  of  its  material  to  substantiate  his  statements 
regarding  it. 


446        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE   ADMIRAL. 

ing  sufficiently  grave  without  running  the  risk  of  losing  their 
ships  in  port. 

For  fifteen  days  the  Admiral  remained  in  wearisome  idle 
ness,  "  for  so  the  cruel  weather  demanded,"  as  he  says. 
Himself,  the  ships,  and  all  on  board  were  "  thoroughly  worn 
out."  Discouraged  by  the  fatal  loss  of  time  to  which  he 
was  subjected,  persuaded  that  it  was  useless  to  hope  for 
more  favorable  weather  for  an  indefinite  time,  his  active 
temperament  would  not  support  the  enforced  restraint  of 
his  present  situation.  He  had  "thought  to  have  finished 
with  it  [the  stormy  season]  and  found  himself  but  begin 
ning."  "  In  order  to  do  something,  until  the  weather  should 
permit  me  to  put  out  to  sea  and  continue  my  voyage,"  he 
says,  "  I  reconsidered  my  decision  not  to  return  to  the 
mines."  Since  the  continuous  gales  from  east  and  north 
east  barred  his  passage  in  the  direction  he  wished  to  take, 
he  should  use  them  to  carry  him  back  to  Veragua  and  spend 
his  time  in  exploring  that  region,  rather  than  do  nothing. 
On  the  5th  of  December,  therefore,  he  set  out  from  the 
Cabinet  and  steered  west,  counting  on  his  former  adver 
saries  of  the  air  and  sea  to  serve  his  altered  purpose.  For 
a  paltry  fifteen  miles  they  favored  him,  and  then,  with  the 
fickleness  which  has  made  them  rivals  in  inconstancy,  the 
wind  veered  to  the  west  and  fell  upon  him  with  pitiless  fury. 
It  is  no  small  matter  when  the  foremost  seaman  of  his  time 
declares  that  he  then  experienced  the  most  terrible  tempest 
of  a  long  life  passed  at  sea,  and  his  report  of  it  is  not  so 
long  as  to  be  wearisome. 

"  For  nine  days  I  wandered  as  one  lost,11  he  writes,  "  without 
hope  of  salvation.  Never  have  eyes  seen  the  sea  so  high  and 
ugly,  or  so  much  foam.  The  wind  was  not  available  for  making 
headway,  and  did  not  permit  us  to  run  for  any  shelter.  There  I 
was,  held  in  that  sea  turned  into  blood  and  seething  like  a 
cauldron  upon  a  huge  fire.  So  awesome  a  sky  was  never  seen  ; 
for  a  day  and  a  night  it  blazed  like  a  furnace,  vomiting  forth 
sheets  and  bolts  of  lightning  until,  after  each  one,  I  looked  to 
see  whether  it  had  not  carried  away  my  masts  and  sails.  With 
such  frightful  fury  they  fell  upon  us  that  we  all  believed  the 
ships  would  founder.  During  the  whole  time  the  water  never 
ceased  falling  from  the  skies ;  not  in  what  would  be  called  rain, 


ANTICIPATING  MAGELLAN. 


447 


but  rather  as  though  another  Deluge  were  upon  us.  My  people 
were  already  so  worn  out  that  they  courted  death,  to  be  free 
from  such  continued  martyrdom.  The  ships,  for  the  second 
time,  lost  boats,  anchors,  cables,  and  sails,  and  were  leaking. 
When  it  was  our  Lord's  pleasure  I  sought  Puerto  Gordo,1  and 
there  repaired  as  well  as  I  could." 

The  situation  of  the  squadron  was,  in  simple  truth,  des 
perate.  The  men  were  broken  down  by  the  perpetual  strug 
gle  for  their  lives,  poisoned  by  the  fevers  common  to  those 
unhealthy  shores  in  the  wet  season,  and  disheartened  by 
the  Admiral's  apparent  determination  to  turn  his  back  on 
the  golden  coasts  just  skirted,  and,  at  the  first  opportunity, 
resume  the  wearisome  search  for  a  strait  which,  when 
found,  would  only  lead  them  into  new  perils.  Under  the 
influence  of  constant  dampness  and  heat  the  provisions  had 
spoiled,  so  that  those  among  the  crews  who  were  not  blessed 
with  strong  stomachs  ground  their  biscuit  into  a  paste  with 
water,  baked  it  and  swallowed  the  mess  at  night  to  avoid 
seeing  their  food.  Others,  of  stouter  nerves,  ate  their 
rations  as  they  came,  "  for  to  pick  out  the  worms  would  be 
to  lose  the  supper,"  as  is  pithily  explained.  All  hands  were 
glad  to  eat  the  meat  of  the  huge  sharks  which  abounded  in 
those  seas,  and  had  at  first  been  regarded  with  terror  and 
loathing.  The  ships  themselves  were  racked  by  the  storms, 
and  began  to  be  riddled  by  the  teredo  from  their  protracted 
sojourns  in  landlocked  harbors.  Finally,  the  unprecedented 
violence  and  persistence  of  furious  gales  and  head  currents 
caused  the  stoutest  hearts  to  lose  courage.  It  was  contrary 
to  all  experience,  even  to  those  who  had  been  most  in  the 
new  western  seas.  A  month  had  been  passed  in  making 
the  300  miles  from  Caxinas  to  Gracias  a  Dios.  Ten  weeks 
had  been  needed  to  cover  the  700  miles  from  the  latter  to 
the  Cabinet,  near  Cape  San  Bias.  Small  wonder  that  the 
seamen  should  ascribe  such  unheard-of  perils  to  the  machi- 

1  The  other  accounts  say  this  was  the  Porto  Bello  already  visited, 
but  Ferdinand  Columbus  distinguishes  it  as  Huiva,  says  it  was  a  long 
and  narrow  inlet,  and  that  the  natives  there  lived  in  huts  built  in  the 
trees.  The  latter  remark  is  significant  when  compared  with  Vespucci's 
story  of  his  first  voyage. 


448        THE   LAST    VOYAGES    OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

nations  of  the  Evil  One.  To  them  all  the  last  day  seemed 
to  have  come,  when,  during  the  gale  described  by  the 
Admiral,  the  ships  found  themselves,  on  the  i3th  of  Decem 
ber,  in  a  devil's  dance  of  waterspouts,  any  one  of  which 
would  have  swept  their  little  barks  off  the  ocean  as  a  broom 
sweeps  chips.  With  one  voice  the  affrighted  sailors  joined 

their  commander  in  reciting  the  Gospel  of  St.  John that 

sovereign  remedy  against  the  arts  of  Beelzebub  at  sea  — 
and  when,  at  the  sound  of  its  opening  verses,  the  huge  pil 
lars  of  whirling  water  drew  into  the  lowering  clouds  above 
and  the  frothing  seas  below,  they  knew  that  the  hand  of 
Satan  was  in  all  they  had  suffered.1 

At  the  first  indication  of  fair  weather,  on  the  2oth  of 
December,  the  squadron  put  to  sea  and  headed  up  the  coast 
for  Veragua.  Wind  and  current,  which  for  ninety  days  had 
been  favorable  for  this  course,  now  opposed  it.  The  almanac 
marked  an  approaching  opposition  of  Saturn,  and  the  Admiral 
put  back  into  Porto  Bello  to  await  it.  "  I  did  not  dare  to 
encounter  it,"  he  declares,  "  in  so  wild  a  sea  upon  a  danger 
ous  coast,  for  it  generally  brings  a  gale  or  stormy  weather. 
This  was  on  Christmas  Day,  at  mass-time.  I  returned  again 
to  the  place  from  which  I  had  come  with  so  much  toil ;  and, 
after  the  New  Year  was  past,  turned  once  more  to  the 
struggle,  —  for  such  it  was,  although  I  now  had  fair  weather 
for  my  voyage,  —  since  my  vessels  were  unseaworthy  and  the 
people  sick  and  dying."  This  time  the  squadron  attained 
the  shores  of  Veragua,  coming  to  anchor  on  Epiphany,  the 
6th  of  January,  1503,  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  Yebra,  a 
few  miles  east  of  Veragua  River.  From  the  event  which 
the  day  commemorated,  the  Admiral  called  his  new  refuge 
Belen,  or  Bethlehem,  and  here  he  decided  to  remain  while 
he  investigated  the  "  secrets  "  of  the  land  which  was  reputed 
to  contain  such  wealth  of  gold.  He  looked  on  his  arrival  as 
providential.  "  Our  Lord  guided  me  to  a  river  with  a  safe 
harbor,"  he  writes,  "  albeit  there  were  but  ten  palms  [eighty 
inches]  of  water  in  the  channel.  I  entered  with  difficulty, 

1  Ferdinand  Columbus  adds  that  his  father  made  the  sign  of  the 
cross  and  drew  an  imaginary  circle  in  the  air  with  his  sword. 


ANTICIPATING  MAGELLAN.  449 

and  the   next  day  the  tempest  again  arose.     Had  I  been 
outside,  I  could  not  have  got  in  by  reason  of  the  bar." 

Just  ten  years  before,  at  the  same  holiday  season,  he  had 
found  himself,  a  shipwrecked  outcast,  dependent  upon  the 
generosity  of  King  Guacanagari  for  the  lives  of  himself  and 
his  men.  Before  he  saw  the  last  of  Belen  the  early  scenes 
at  Navidad  were  destined  to  be  reproduced  with  striking 
similarity. 


XXII. 

AN   INACCESSIBLE   OCEAN. 

/COLUMBUS  had  not  yet  abandoned  his  project  of  finding 
V^  a  passage  into  the  eastern  seas ;  his  return  to  Veragua 
was  partly  a  concession  to  the  grumbling  wishes  of  his  ex 
hausted  men  and  partly  a  plan  to  spend  the  stormy  season 
in  gathering  information  concerning  the  wealthiest  region  it 
had  yet  been  his  fortune  to  discover.  The  condition  of  his 
ships,  bad  as  it  was,  was  not  beyond  repair ;  a  few  weeks  of 
active  work  in  port  would  make  them  seaworthy  and  recu 
perate  his  men;  native  provisions  could  be  secured  in 
abundance  for  future  operations,  and,  despite  its  ominous 
beginning,  the  voyage  carried  to  a  successful  end.  With 
every  respite  from  the  harassing  cares  of  navigation,  his 
mind  instinctively  turned  to  the  problem  of  the  strait,  and 
he  pieced  together  each  scrap  of  what  seemed  to  him  evi 
dence  of  its  existence,  until  he  was  firmly  persuaded,  that, 
whether  he  reached  it  or  not,  a  way  was  open  by  sea  to  the 
lands  of  spice  and  ivory.  So  far  as  he  had  yet  seen,  this 
region  of  Veragua  was  the  centre  of  riches  and  intelligence 
for  the  whole  coast  along  which  he  had  passed.  It  was  so 
regarded  by  the  tribes  both  to  the  north  and  to  the  east. 
Half-understood  hints  had  been  given  by  his  native  inform 
ants  of  strange  peoples  and  products  in  the  interior,  as  well 
as  of  treasure  passing  belief,  and  he  hoped  that  a  march 
inland  would  reveal,  at  least,  some  of  these  "  secrets."  As 
he  gazed  at  the  towering  mountain  ranges  which  showed 
their  summits  far  in  the  interior  during  the  latter  half  of  his 
course,  he  dreamed  of  Zayton  and  Cathay,  of  Ciamba  and 
45° 


AN  INACCESSIBLE    OCEAN.  451 

Farther  India.  "  The  people  of  whom  Pope  Pius  the  Second 
wrote,"  he  concluded,  "have  been  found,  judging  by  the 
country  and  its  indications ;  but  not  the  horses  with  their 
trappings  and  curbs  of  gold.  This  is  not  surprising,  for  they 
are  not  needed  in  these  lands  along  the  seashore,  where 
only  fisher- folk  dwell."  As  yet  he  had  not  formulated  a 
formal  conception  of  the  geography  of  the  country  before 
him;  it  was  merely  some  unlocated  border-land  of  the 
mysterious  Orient,  as  Cuba,  Hayti,  and  Paria  had  each 
been  in  turn. 

He  did  not  purpose  devoting  a  great  deal  of  time  to  the 
investigation  of  Veragua  ;  important  as  it  was  in  comparison 
with  adjoining  territories,  he  had  little  hope  of  reaching  the 
seats  of  eastern  civilization  by  an  overland  journey.  The 
only  true  route  was  by  sea,  through  the  strait.  In  order, 
therefore,  to  hasten  the  work  of  exploration,  he  sent  his 
brother  with  a  party  to  visit  the  King  or  Quebi1  of  the  dis 
trict,  who,  he  learned,  lived  in  a  village  on  the  neighboring 
river  of  Veragua,  some  distance  from  its  mouth.  Don 
Bartholomew  went  around  by  sea,  in  the  ships'  boats,  to 
that  stream,  and  was  met  by  the  King  at  its  entrance  with 
much  apparent  cordiality.  After  an  exchange  of  gifts,  in 
which  the  Spaniards  lost  nothing,  savages  and  white  men 
went  their  separate  homeward  ways.  The  next  day  the 
King  visited  the  Spanish  ships  lying  in  the  Belen,  and  passed 
an  hour  in  not  particularly  edifying  intercourse.  To  all  ap 
pearances  the  best  of  relations  were  now  established  between 
the  natives  and  their  visitors.  The  inhabitants  of  the  sur 
rounding  country  flocked  to  the  anchorage  to  verify  the 
marvels  which  they  had  heard  concerning  the  newcomers, 
and  a  steady  traffic  arose  with  fish,  provisions,  and  golden 
ornaments  on  the  one  side,  and  needles,  broken  looking- 
glass,  and  bells  on  the  other  as  the  staples  of  trade.  But 
Belen  was  not  Veragua,  and  all  accounts  united  in  maintain 
ing  that  the  source  of  gold  was  to  be  found  among  the 
mountains  of  the  latter  region.  When  his  ships  and  men 

1  Irving  and  others  use  this  as  the  chiefs  name.  Peter  Martyr 
quotes  the  Admiral  himself  as  saying  that  Quebi  and  Tibi  were  native 
titles  equal  to  the  cacique  of  the  Hispaniola  tribes. 


452        THE  LAST    VOYAGES    OF   THE   ADMIRAL. 

were  in  somewhat  better  condition  than  at  the  time  of  their 
arrival,  the  Admiral  prepared  to  move  his  squadron  nearer 
to  the  much-discussed  district.  A  sudden  rise  in  the  river 
on  the  night  of  the  24th  of  January,  caused  by  some  cloud 
burst  up  country,  parted  the  cables  of  his  flagship,  drove  her 
so  violently  against  one  of  the  smaller  ships  that  the  latter 
lost  a  mast,  and  sent  them  both  whirling  down  stream  until 
they  brought  up,  sadly  the  worse  for  the  experience,  against 
a  friendly  bank.  More  serious  even  than  the  effect  on  the 
vessels  was  that  upon  the  bar  at  the  river's  mouth.  Here, 
between  the  sand  brought  down  by  the  swollen  stream  and 
that  thrown  up  by  the  sea,  the  channel  was  so  shallowed 
that  any  egress  for  the  squadron  was  impracticable  for  the 
time  being.  There  was  nothing  to  do  but  again  repair 
damages  and  wait  for  a  new  channel  to  form. 

Such  of  my  readers  whose  fortune  it  has  been  to  lie  fever- 
stricken  in  the  stuffy  cabin  of  a  small  vessel,  at  anchor  in 
some  mangrove-fringed,  swamp-surrounded  tropical  bay  dur 
ing  the  rainy  season,  with  imperious  duty  calling  elsewhere 
and  an  immovable  obstacle  chaining  them  in  their  rain- 
sodden  situation,  may  be  able  to  picture  the  Admiral's  plight. 
We  doubt  if  others  can.  Helpless  himself,  he  sent  Don 
Bartholomew  to  make  another  and  more  thorough  explora 
tion  of  the  neighboring  interior.  Setting  out  on  the  6th  of 
February,  nothing  daunted  by  the  torrential  rains  which 
have  since  given  the  Isthmus  such  a  melancholy  fame,  the 
stalwart  Adelantado  went  around  by  sea  to  the  Veragua 
River  and  rowed  up  it  to  the  King's  village.  Here  he  was 
hospitably  received,  and  on  announcing  his  purpose  was 
furnished  with  three  guides,  who,  the  King  was  understood 
to  say,  would  show  him  the  principal  mines.  For  two  days 
the  party  followed  the  course  of  the  stream  towards  its 
source  in  the  mountains.  Few  of  the  Spaniards  were  likely 
ever  to  forget  that  first  ascent  of  the  mountains  of  Costa 
Rica.  A  hint  of  their  experience  is  given  in  the  statement 
that  they  crossed  the  river  forty-three  times  ;  but  the  struggle 
with  the  vine-tangled,  thorny  jungle,  the  blind  stumbling 
over  slippery  roots  and  rotten  trunks,  the  wading  through 
marshes  and  dank,  fern-grown  bogs  —  all  these  are  passed 


AN  INACCESSIBLE    OCEAN.  453 

over  in  silence,  although  together  they  more  than  doubled 
the  distance.     On  the  third  day  the  column  reached  a  sum 
mit,  whence  an  extended  prospect  was  afforded  as  far  as  the 
sight  could  reach.     All  that  territory  was  full  of  mines,  the 
guides  proclaimed  ;  at  the  end  of  twenty  days'  journey  toward 
the  west  the  traveller  would   still   be    among   them.     The 
names  of  many  villages  and    districts   renowned    for   their 
riches  were  given,  and  to  prove  the  productiveness  of  the 
earth,  the  Indians  showed  the  Spaniards  how  the  gold  could 
be  found  among  the  roots  of  the  very  trees  under  which 
they  stood.     The  mere  hint  was  enough,  and  for  four  hours 
the  eager  sailors  dug  up  the  soft  forest  mould,  and  washed  the 
soil  beneath  it  in  the  adjoining  stream,  until  every  man  had 
his  little  store  of  shining  grains.    At  the  end  of  that  time  Don 
Bartholomew  started  homeward,  more  than  content  with  his 
investigations.     There  would  be  no  lack  of  witnesses  as  to 
the   wealth    of  Veragua.     The    fact,  subsequently  learned, 
that  the  wily  chief  had  ordered  his  guides  to  lead  the  white 
men  beyond  his  own  borders,  and  show  them  the  mines  of  a 
rival  with  whom  he  preferred  they  should  deal,  did  not  affect 
the  main  question.     The  whole  country  was  full  of  the  metal. 
His  brother's  report,  and  the  enthusiastic  affirmations  of 
the  men  accompanying  him,  persuaded  the   Admiral  that 
regions  of  such  fabulous  wealth  ought  to  be  held  for  the 
Crown  without  further  ceremony,  and  he  began  to  revolve 
in  his  mind  the  advisability  of  establishing  a  garrison  at  a 
convenient   point  to  continue  explorations  and  assert  the 
dominion  of  Castile.     Whether  this  idea  was  the   fruit  of 
some  direct  suggestion  made  by  his  brother  and  his  other 
lieutenants,  or  was  due  to  his  doubts  as  to  the  possibility  of 
extricating  his  ships  from   their  imprisonment,  or,  finally, 
was  but  an  application  of  a  predetermined  policy  to  leave  a 
colony  at  any  place  of  supreme  importance  which  he  might 
discover,  does  not  appear.     It  is  evident  that,  knowing  the 
disposition  of  King  Ferdinand,  he  counted  upon  the  tidings 
of  such   a  brilliant   annexation  condoning   for  any  failure 
which  might  ultimately  attend  the  chief  object  of  his  voy 
age.     With  a  view  to    resolving  the  practicability  of  the 
plan,  he  once  more  sent  Don  Bartholomew  upon  a  reconnois- 


454        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

sance  which  had  for  its  particular  object  the  investigation 
of  the  country  beyond  Veragua,  and  its  relative  desirability 
as  the  site  for  a  colony  in  comparison  with  the  latter  and 
Belen.  Taking  with  him  fifty-nine  men,  and  sending  a  boat 
with  fourteen  more  along  the  coast,  Don  Bartholomew 
marched  along  the  seashore  to  Hurira,  twenty  or  twenty- 
five  miles  beyond  Veragua.  On  approaching  the  chief 
town  of  the  district  he  was  met  by  the  King  and  people, 
who  welcomed  the  Spaniards  with  hearty  hospitality.  Dur 
ing  the  day  the  chief  of  the  adjoining  region  of  Dururi 
appeared  with  a  number  of  his  tribe,  anxious  to  exchange 
their  gold  for  the  white  men's  trinkets.  From  all  the 
Indians  the  same  tale  was  heard ;  gold  was  everywhere  to 
be  had  ;  but  it  was  found  in  the  greatest  plenty  in  the  mines 
of  this,  that,  or  the  other  "  King  "  somewhere  in  the  interior. 
One  variation  there  was,  that  in  a  certain  territory  the  war 
riors  were  armed  like  the  Spaniards ;  but  what  wandering 
story,  drifting  canoe-borne  from  distant  Cuba  or  Hispaniola, 
this  might  have  for  its  basis,  Don  Bartholomew  did  not 
trouble  himself  to  inquire.  Encouraged  by  the  friendliness 
of  his  hosts,  and  the  obvious  abundance  of  the  desired 
metal,  he  decided  to  penetrate  still  farther  inland.  Dis 
missing  one-half  of  his  men  to  return  overland  to  the 
ships,  he  continued  his  journey  with  the  remainder.  At  a 
settlement  called  Cobrava  by  the  natives  he  found  less  gold, 
but  vast  plantations  of  maize  extending  for  several  miles.1 
From  here  he  passed  to  Catiba,  where  he  obtained  a  goodly 
quantity  of  gold  in  barter,  and  so,  rejoining  his  boat,  returned 
to  the  Admiral. 

Don  Bartholomew's  report  was  that  there  was  no  harbor 
along  the  coast  which  offered  greater  advantage  than  that  of 
Belen,  and  orders  were  accordingly  given  to  make  prepara 
tions  for  a  permanent  settlement  on  an  elevation  near  the 
river's  mouth.  A  storehouse  was  first  built,  in  which  were 
deposited  the  artillery  and  ammunition,  provisions,  ship- 
stores,  and  trading  goods  destined  for  the  use  and  protec- 

1  Ferdinand  Columbus  says  that  cornfields  extended  for  6  leagues 
(24  miles).  Either  he  is  misrepresented  or  his  uncle  was  a  poor  judge 
of  distances  by  land. 


AN  INACCESSIBLE    OCEAN. 


455 


tion  of  the  garrison.  Around  this  central  edifice  eight  cabins 
were  erected  for  the  accommodation  of  the  men.  Don  Bar 
tholomew  was  appointed  to  command  the  colony  and  80 
men  —  more  than  one-half  of  the  Admiral's  entire  force  — 
were  detailed  to  remain  with  him.  His  own  vessel  was  also 
to  be  left  in  the  harbor,  to  serve  in  future  explorations  along 
the  coast,  or  for  an  asylum  in  emergency,  and  on  this,  for 
greater  security,  the  more  perishable  stores,  such  as  wine,  oil, 
vinegar,  cheese,  and  the  like  were  carried.  Throughout  the 
whole  period  of  construction  the  Indians  were  observing 
the  labors  of  the  white  men  with  a  close  attention  which 
aroused  the  latter's  suspicion.  To  propitiate  their  friend 
ship  the  Admiral  distributed  gifts  with  liberality,  and  espe 
cially  gave  their  King  many  presents  of  the  sort  most  highly 
prized  by  savages.  All  these  were  accepted  in  seeming  good 
part,  but  there  was  an  undercurrent  of  dissatisfaction  visible 
in  all  their  actions.  Large  numbers  of  canoes  were  seen 
passing  by  the  mouth  of  the  river,  going  always  in  the  direc 
tion  of  Veragua,  and  although  the  natives  explained  that 
these  were  on  their  way  to  join  the  Indians  of  that  region  in 
an  expedition  against  the  King  of  Cobrava,  the  Spaniards 
felt  that  the  movement  was  more  likely  to  be  directed  against 
themselves.  To  solve  the  doubt  Diego  Mendez,  the  squad 
ron's  notary,  volunteered  to  take  a  boat  and  follow  some  of 
the  canoes  until  their  destination  was  discovered.  He  soon 
returned  to  report  that  he  had  come  upon  a  large  force  of 
well- equipped  warriors,  numbering  a  thousand  or  more,  gath 
ered  on  the  seashore  between  the  two  rivers,  who,  in  answer 
to  his  frank  offer  to  join  them  with  his  own  comrades  in 
fighting  the  Cobravans,  showed  such  unwillingness,  that  he 
was  convinced  that  their  real  objective  was  the  Spanish 
squadron  and  the  village  at  Belen.  This  alarming  intelli 
gence  was  not  wholly  credited  by  the  Admiral,  and  to  allay 
all  doubt  Mendez  undertook,  with  a  single  companion  — 
Rodrigo  de  Escobar,  a  seaman  from  Don  Bartholomew's 
ship  —  to  make  a  more  extended  scout.  Following  the 
beach  on  foot,  the  two  men  reached  the  mouth  of  the 
Veragua  without  adventure  ;  but  there  they  encountered  two 
canoes  with  Indians  of  some  other  tribe,  who  warned  them 


456   THE  LAST  VOYAGES  OF  THE  AD  AURAL. 

that  in  two  days  the  Veraguans  and  their  allies  intended 
to  fall  upon  the  Spaniards  and  destroy  their  ships  and 
houses.  Mendez  tried  to  bribe  these  men  to  carry  him  up 
the  river  to  the  King's  town,  that  he  might  investigate  for 
himself,  and  after  much  persuasion  they  yielded,  protesting, 
however,  that  the  whole  party  would  be  killed  on  sight.  On 
reaching  the  town  Mendez  pretended  to  be  a  surgeon,  come 
to  heal  a  wound  in  the  King's  leg  from  which  he  was  known 
to  be  suffering.  Under  the  influence  of  a  handful  of  bells  and 
needles,  he  was  guided  to  the  camp,  which  was  situated  on  a 
hill-top  some  distance  away.  Here  he  found  the  King  oc 
cupying  a  hut  on  one  side  of  an  open  square  or  place,  around 
which  were  disposed  the  heads  of  300  of  the  enemies  killed 
in  battle  by  his  warriors.  Not  a  whit  disconcerted,  Mendez 
pushed  his  way  to  the  door  of  the  King's  lodging,  where  he 
was  met  by  the  latter's  son,  and  thrust  violently  away  with 
many  threats  of  worse  treatment  in  store.  Even  the  exhibi 
tion  of  a  pot  of  ointment  and  the  repetition  of  the  fiction 
about  the  wounded  leg  failed  to  make  any  impression ;  but 
when  Mendez  calmly  seated  himself,  drew  a  comb,  scissors, 
and  looking-glass  from  his  pocket,  and  directed  Escobar  to 
trim  and  dress  his  hair,  the  belligerent  youth  and  all  about 
him  fell  under  the  spell  and  besought  the  white  men  to 
barber  them  as  well.  The  gift  of  the  marvellous  implements 
ended  all  unpleasantness,  and,  after  informing  themselves  of 
all  that  was  going  on,  the  two  Spaniards  made  their  way 
back  to  their  canoe  and  Belen.1 

Convinced  now  of  the  danger  of  an  immediate  attack  by 
the  savages,  the  Admiral  took  measures  to  anticipate  it.  On 
the  30th  of  March  Don  Bartholomew  started  from  Belen 
with  74  men,  marched  across  country  to  Veragua,  and  posting 
his  force  near  by  presented  himself  with  but  five  men  before 
the  King's  hut.  The  King  was  taken  by  surprise,  but  allowed 
Don  Bartholomew  to  approach  on  condition  that  the  other 
Spaniards  remained  at  a  distance.  Under  pretence  of  caring 

1  The  relation  of  Diego  Mendez  of  this,  and  of  his  still  more  redoubt 
able  feat  of  the  next  year,  is  entitled  to  rank  with  the  Mexican  story  of 
Bernal  Diaz  de  Castillo,  among  the  most  delightful  pieces  of  honest 
vanity  in  any  language. 


AN  INACCESSIBLE    OCEAN.  457 

for  the  King's  wounded  leg,  Don  Bartholomew  ran  his  hand 
over  it  and  then  felt  his  pulse.  Suddenly  closing  his  hand 
with  an  iron  grip  about  the  King's  wrist,  he  beckoned  his 
nearest  men  to  fire  a  musket  as  a  signal  for  the  main  force. 
In  a  few  moments  the  whole  body  was  on  the  ground,  and 
the  King,  with  his  wives  and  children  and  many  of  the  prin 
cipal  men,  was  a  prisoner.  A  hurried  march  back  to  Belen 
was  made,  and  the  captives  sent  on  board  the  four  ships  for 
greater  security.  Night  had  fallen  when  the  transfer  was 
made,  and  in  the  darkness  the  King,  who  had  induced  his 
sympathetic  guard  to  loosen  his  bonds  a  little,  succeeded  in 
slipping  out  of  the  boat  and  swimming  ashore.  Pursuit  was 
useless,  and  the  Spaniards  had  to  content  themselves  as  best 
they  might  with  the  capture  of  the  King's  household  and 
treasure.  The  latter  was  not  very  imposing,  being  valued  at 
no  more  than  300  ducats,  which  was  divided  in  due  propor 
tion  between  the  Crown  and  the  members  of  the  raiding 
party,  being  treated  as  prize  money  and  not  as  the  result  of 
a  commercial  bargain.  Without  its  chief  spoil,  the  impor 
tance  of  the  foray  shrank  into  narrow  compass.  The  tactics 
displayed  were  merely  a  repetition  of  those  employed  in 
Hispaniola  towards  Caonabo  and  Guarionex  a  few  years 
before.  Had  the  King  been  secured,  some  permanent  ad 
vantage  might  have  resulted.  As  it  was,  the  attempt  to 
seize  him  only  precipitated  a  catastrophe  which  was  poorly 
compensated  by  a  few  pounds'  weight  of  barbaric  gold. 

For  the  moment,  all  danger  from  the  Indians  seemed  to 
be  past.  Don  Bartholomew  felt  entirely  able  to  cope  with 
any  future  attempt  that  might  be  made  against  his  garrison, 
since  he  had  nearly  eighty  well-armed  men  under  his  com 
mand,  a  number  of  lombards  or  small  cannon,  and  abun 
dance  of  ammunition,  while  the  caravel  that  was.  to  be  left 
him  was  an  additional  protection.  Under  these  circum 
stances,  when  the  Admiral  was  informed,  one  day  early  in 
April,  that  the  swollen  river  had  scoured  a  channel  through 
the  bar,  he  instantly  decided  to  get  his  own  vessels  out  into 
the  deep  water  beyond,  before  the  new  passage  should  again 
shoal  up.  He  had  been  anxiously  awaiting  such  an  oppor 
tunity  for  over  two  months,  and  now  that  the  garrison  was 


458        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

provided  for,  he  felt  no  hesitation  in  withdrawing  his  three 
caravels  from  the  river  in  order  to  be  free  to  pursue  his  voy 
age.  It  was  not  an  easy  task  to  get  the  ships  over  the  bar 
and  through  the  breakers,  but  it  was  accomplished  in  com 
parative  safety.  The  Admiral  and  his  men  remarked  with 
much  misgiving  that  the  teredo  had  been  busily  at  work 
during  the  long  season  the  squadron  had  lain  in  the  river, 
and  that  the  hulls  were  riddled  far  more  than  had  been 
thought ;  but  so  long  as  they  rode  at  anchor  in  a  compara 
tively  smooth  sea  the  extent  of  the  damage  was  not  apparent. 
Most  of  the  men  of  the  garrison  had  come  out  with  the  ships 
to  help  in  warping  them  over  the  bar,  or  to  take  leave  of 
their  messmates,  and  Don  Bartholomew  was  left  on  shore 
with  only  about  twenty  companions.  It  does  not  appear 
that  it  was  the  Admiral's  intention  to  leave  Belen  at  once  ; 
the  intimation  is  that  he  expected  to  lie  outside  for  several 
days  before  getting  under  way.  His  new  position  was  at 
a  distance  of  several  miles  from  the  little  settlement  of  new 
cabins,  too  far  to  see  what  was  passing  there,  and  hence, 
when  Pedro  Tristan,  the  captain  of  the  flagship,  proposed 
taking  a  couple  of  boats  with  a  dozen  men  and  re-crossing 
the  bar  to  get  fresh  water  from  the  springs  up-stream,  and 
salt  from  the  storehouse,  no  reason  existed  for  objection. 
The  boats  rowed  away,  passed  the  breakers  in  safety,  and 
that  was  the  last  the  Admiral  saw  of  captain  or  men.  Ten 
days  of  suspense  and  distress  were  to  pass  before  he  learned 
the  cause  of  their  disappearance. 

It  is  strange  that  a  veteran  of  Don  Bartholomew's  long 
and  arduous  experience  —  so  much  of  it,  too,  with  the  sav 
ages  of  the  New  World  —  should  have  been  willing  to  neglect 
the  commonest  precautions  for  the  safety  of  his  command 
at  Belen.  Surrounded  on  three  sides  by  a  jungle  which 
would  veil  an  army  stationed  within  twenty  yards  of  its 
border,  he  had  not  a  picket  posted  or  a  scout  in  the  forest. 
Doubtless  his  contempt  for  the  feebleness  of  the  natives  was 
the  reason  ;  but  it  was  a  poor  one  for  so  good  a  soldier.  In 
this  case  he  had  to  deal  with  an  active  and  untiring  foe,  who 
had  the  patience  to  wait  for  his  opportunity,  and  the  courage 
to  strike  quickly  and  hard.  The  Indians,  ever  since  the 


AN  INACCESSIBLE    OCEAN.  459 

escape  of  their  chief,  had,  it  now  appeared,  been  watching 
the  movements  of  the  Christians  from  the  adjoining  forests. 
They  had  noiselessly  gathered  together  a  force  of  several 
hundred  warriors,  who  were  concealed  within  a  convenient 
distance.  When  they  saw  three  of  the  great  white-sailed 
canoes  passing  out  of  the  river  with  so  large  a  part  of  the 
strangers'  force,  the  savages  thought  their  chance  had  come, 
and,  breaking  from  their  shelter  of  vines  and  trees,  poured 
a  rain  of  javelins  and  arrows  upon  Don  Bartholomew's  little 
band,  and  then  rushed  to  close  quarters  with  their  huge 
wooden  swords.  The  Spaniards  rallied  together  and  met 
the  attack  with  that  cheerful  courage  which  leads  one  to  for 
give  them  so  much.  In  a  few  moments  the  Veraguans  had 
learned  what  the  Hispaniolans  could  have  told  them,  that 
the  only  safe  Spaniard  to  handle  was  a  dead  one,  and, 
leaving  a  number  of  dead  on  the  ground,  they  took  refuge  in 
the  bush.  As  several  of  the  whites  were  wounded,  including 
Don  Bartholomew,  who  had  a  javelin  through  the  chest, 
they  did  not  venture  to  pursue  the  Indians,  but  kept  up  a 
discharge  of  cross-bow  and  arquebuse  in  reply  to  the  sav 
ages'  missiles.  At  this  juncture,  Pedro  Tristan  and  his  two 
boats  appeared,  slowly  making  their  way  up  stream.  In  an 
swer  to  the  hail  of  their  besieged  comrades  they  drew  near 
shore,  but  would  render  no  help ;  Tristan  asserting  that  if 
he  allowed  them  to  come  aboard  they  would  swamp  his  craft 
and  all  be  lost,  in  which  event  the  Admiral  would  be  exposed 
to  imminent  peril  also,  as  he  was  short  of  boats.  Nor 
would  the  obstinate  captain  come  ashore  and  take  a  hand 
in  the  fight,  alleging  that  his  orders  were  to  get  fresh  water 
for  the  vessels  out  at  sea,  and  he  could  take  no  risks.  The 
utmost  he  would  do  was  to  promise  to  fill  his  casks  as  quickly 
as  possible,  and  hasten  back  to  the  Admiral  with  a  report  of 
the  garrison's  plight.  In  order  to  do  this  quickly,  he  pro 
posed  rowing  up  the  river  until  he  reached  a  point  where 
the  water  was  fresh  ;  but  the  Spaniards  on  shore  warned  him 
not  to  venture  so  far,  as  the  woods  were  filled  with  the  native 
warriors.  Nothing  moved,  Tristan  held  to  his  determina 
tion,  and  started  off.  The  next  day,  a  solitary  sailor,  badly 
wounded,  came  into  the  little  settlement  and  announced 


460        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE   ADMIRAL. 

that  he  was  the  only  survivor  of  the  stubborn  captain's  party. 
The  Indians  had  attacked  them  at  a  narrow  part  of  the 
river,  overwhelmed  them  from  the  banks  with  arrows  and 
darts,  killed  twelve  out  of  the  thirteen  in  the  boats,  and  then 
broken  these  to  pieces  in  sheer  ferocity.  The  Spaniards, 
when  they  saw  they  were  trapped,  fought  like  men,  even 
when  covered  with  wounds.  Tristan  was  no  coward,  and 
directed  the  defence  with  the  same  pertinacity  he  showed  in 
other  matters,  until  a  javelin  pierced  through  an  eye  into  his 
brain.  The  survivor  had  escaped  through  the  jungle,  having 
dived  overboard  when  the  resistance  was  failing,  and  swum 
under  water  to  a  safe  distance  before  taking  to  land.  A 
little  later  on  his  story  was  confirmed,  when  the  corpses  of 
some  of  the  luckless  Spaniards  came  drifting  down  with  the 
current,  each  with  its  billet  of  loathsome  buzzards  wrangling 
over  their  novel  feast. 

This  disaster  involved  far  more  than  the  lives  which  were 
lost.  The  garrison  had  no  boats  capable  of  passing  the 
heavy  surf  on  the  bar,  and  they  knew  that  the  Admiral 
had  few  left  by  which  he  could  communicate  with  them. 
Flushed  with  their  victory  over  Tristan  and  his  crews,  the 
Indians  redoubled  their  efforts  to  exterminate  the  handful 
of  Spaniards  opposing  them,  and  for  four  days  the  harassing 
contest  was  maintained.  At  the  end  of  that  time  the  ex 
hausted  defenders  resolved  to  abandon  the  settlement,  and 
pass  to  the  opposite  bank  of  the  river,  where  a  broad,  sandy 
beach  would  enable  them  to  keep  out  of  range  of  the  native 
missiles  —  unless  the  savages  left  the  shelter  of  the  woods, 
which  they  were  not  likely  to  do.  A  more  effective  measure 
would  have  been  to  take  refuge  on  their  caravel  and  run 
outside  to  join  the  Admiral ;  but  some  change  of  wind  or 
current  had  again  choked  the  channel  on  the  bar,  so  that 
egress  and  entrance  were  alike  impracticable.  With  the 
help  of  several  canoes  the  more  important  supplies  were 
transferred  to  the  new  site,  and  with  the  aid  of  the  casks 
and  bales  a  rude  breastwork  was  erected.  Here  several 
days  passed  without  especial  incident,  communication  be 
tween  the  shore  and  the  squadron  outside  being  absolutely 
cut  off  by  the  heavy  surf  on  the  bar. 


AN  INACCESSIBLE   OCEAN.  461 

At  the  end  of  ten  days  of  suspense,  relief  came  to  the 
garrison  in  a  manner  little  to  be  expected.  The  long  ab 
sence  of  Tristan,  and  of  all  news  from  the  garrison,  bore 
heavily  upon  the  Admiral's  mind.  Attacked  just  at  that 
juncture  with  an  unusually  prostrating  fever,  he  was  de 
pressed  by  the  gloomiest  forebodings  at  a  time  when  he 
was  least  fitted  to  cope  energetically  with  the  difficulties 
besetting  him.  Only  a  couple  of  boats  remained  to  his 
squadron ;  if  he  were  to  send  them  ashore  and  they  were 
lost  on  the  bar,  all  on  board  his  vessels  would  be  helpless  in 
the  event  of  disaster  overtaking  their  ships.  In  the  condition 
in  which  these  were,  with  the  necessity  of  putting  into  port 
frequently,  whatever  course  he  might  pursue  after  leaving 
Belen,  the  possession  of  seaworthy  small  boats  was  a  matter 
of  life  and  death.  There  seemed  no  alternative,  conse 
quently,  but  to  wait  until  the  bar  was  passable ;  but  the 
delay  was  maddening.  The  unlucky  Veraguans,  who  had 
been  confined  in  the  ship's  hold  ever  since  Don  Bartholo 
mew's  raid  and  their  King's  escape,  furnished  the  solution. 
One  night,  a  number  of  the  strongest  heaped  the  ballast  into 
a  pile  under  the  hatch,  and,  pressing  on  this,  by  a  concerted 
movement  gave  it  a  mighty  push,  and  threw  it  over  on  the 
deck  with  the  sleeping  sentinels  lying  on  it.  In  a  second, 
the  most  active  among  the  Indians  were  overboard  and 
swimming  for  shore,  while  their  less  fortunate  companions 
were  back  in  the  hold  with  the  hatch  securely  battened 
down  above  them.  By  the  morning  they  had  all  hanged 
themselves  from  the  deck-beams  in  their  despair,  holding 
their  feet  up  from  the  planking  so  as  to  have  room  to 
stretch  their  poor  necks ;  and  this  was  the  end  of  their  part 
in  the  tragedy.  But  Pedro  de  Ledesma,  the  pilot,  saw  no 
reason  why  the  Spaniards  should  not  attempt  as  much  to 
relieve  their  insupportable  situation  as  the  savages  had 
risked  for  liberty,  and  he  volunteered  to  swim  over  the  bar 
if  the  Admiral  would  grant  permission.  This  was  given 
with  hearty  words  of  gratitude  for  the  offer,  and  the  Admiral 
ordered  one  of  the  remaining  boats  to  row  as  near  as  was 
safe  to  the  bar  and  then  leave  the  rest  to  Ledesma's  pluck 
and  endurance.  The  anchorage  was  nearly  four  miles  dis- 


462       THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

tant  from  the  bar,  and  it  is  a  question  whether  the  Spanish 
pilot  could  have  accomplished  the  whole  undertaking,  but 
with  the  long  swim  shortened  he  felt  no  fear  as  to  the  result. 
When  the  broken  water  was  reached,  he  plunged  overboard, 
and,  after  a  few  minutes  of  alternate  quiet  and  struggle,  was 
seen  to  emerge  safely  on  the  beach  beyond.  The  boat  waited 
for  his  return,  and  in  due  time  he  reappeared,  repeated  his 
daring  feat  and  brought  to  the  Admiral  a  full  report  of  the 
condition  of  the  garrison  and  the  events  of  the  past  ten 
days.  The  men  of  the  garrison,  he  said,  wavered  between 
flat  mutiny  and  supplication ;  they  begged  the  Admiral  not 
to  sail  without  them,  but  to  wait  until  the  bar  was  quiet 
enough  to  permit  them  to  escape  in  canoes ;  if  he  did  not, 
they  declared,  they  would  take  their  own  ship  and  sail 
wherever  the  wind  carried  them,  and  upon  the  Admiral's 
head  would  lie  the  consequences.  In  the  face  of  such  a 
posture  of  affairs,  it  was  useless  to  continue  the  project  of 
colonization.  The  full  strength  proposed  for  the  garrison 
was  sufficient  to  maintain  it  in  security  against  any  probable 
native  attack  in  the  future ;  but  nothing  was  to  be  expected 
from  a  disaffected  body  of  men  in  a  hostile  country.  Their 
fate  would  merely  be  that  of  the  men  of  Navidad  ten  years 
before.  The  Admiral  accordingly  sent  orders  to  Don 
Bartholomew  —  by  whom  is  not  stated  —  to  retire  from 
the  settlement  as  soon  as  the  state  of  the  bar  allowed.  In 
a  week  the  sea  had  fallen  so  as  to  permit  a  safe  passage. 
Under  the  intelligent  direction  of  Diego  Mendez,  the  garri 
son  canoes  were  lashed  together  after  the  fashion  of  cata 
marans,  and,  in  six  or  seven  trips,  the  arms,  ammunition,  and 
more  important  stores  were  safely  transferred  to  the  squad 
ron.  The  "  Gallego  "  was  stripped  and  left  inside  the  river ; 
the  doughty  Mendez,  with  five  companions,  spending  the  last 
night  on  shore,  and  being  the  last  to  rejoin  the  squadron. 
Our  Lady  of  Bethlehem,  the  first  European  settlement  on 
the  western  continent,  was  left  to  the  lizards  and  bats. 

It  was  while  he  was  lying  at  anchor  off  the  Belen's  mouth, 
consumed  with  fever  and  tormented  with  the  sense  of  his  own 
impotency  and  about  the  fate  of  Tristan  and  the  garrison, 
that  Columbus  had  the  vivid  dream  which,  under  the  mis- 


AN  INACCESSIBLE    OCEAN.  463 

nomer  of  "vision,"  has  been  the  subject  alternately  of 
apology  and  contempt,  according  to  the  individual  bias  of 
his  biographers.  With  the  former  sentiment  we  have 
nothing  to  do.  The  man's  acts  speak  for  themselves;  if 
they  were  such  as  to  require  apology,  no  amount  of  effort 
will  change  their  character.  But  the  charge  of  hypocrisy  and 
melodramatic  fraud  is  one  which,  when  made  by  apparently 
well-informed  pens,  is  likely  to  gain  creditors.  Let  us  listen 
to  the  Admiral's  own  words  :  — 

"The  boats  had  gone  inside  for  salt  and  water.  The  sea 
became  high  and  ugly  and  did  not  permit  them  to  get  back. 
The  Indians  were  many,  and  banded  together  and  fought  them. 
At  last  they  killed  them.  My  brother  and  all  the  other  people 
were  with  one  ship  which  had  remained  inside.  I,  very  much 
alone,  was  outside,  on  that  wild  coast,  with  a  strong  fever,  in  such 
great  grief.  All  hope  of  escaping  was  dead.  Painfully  I  climbed 
to  the  highest  part  of  the  ship,  calling  in  a  feeble  voice,  weeping 
and  hurriedly,  to  the  commanders  of  your  Majesties's  navy l  in 
all  the  quarters  of  the  compass  for  aid,  but  they  answered  me 
not  at  all.  Worn  out,  I  fell  asleep,  moaning.  I  heard  a  very 
merciful  voice  saying  :  'Oh,  dull  and  slow  to  believe  and  to  serve 
thy  God,  the  God  of  all !  What  has  He  done  more  for  Moses, 
or  for  David  His  servant  ?  Since  thou  wast  born  He  has  ever 
had  thee  in  His  special  care.  When  He  saw  thee  at  the  age 
He  thought  best,  He  made  thy  name  to  resound  marvellously 
throughout  the  earth.  The  Indies,  which  are  such  a  rich  part 
of  the  world,  He  gave  thee  for  thine  own  ;  thou  hast  shared  them 
as  it  pleased  thee,  and  He  gave  thee  power  for  this.  Of  the 
mysteries  of  Ocean,  which  were  sealed  with  such  strong  chains, 
He  gave  thee  the  keys ;  and  thou  hast  been  obeyed  in  so  many 
lands  and  hast  received  from  Christians  such  honorable  glory. 
What  more  did  the  Most  High  do  for  the  people  of  Israel,  when 
He  brought  them  out  of  Egypt  ?  Or  for  David,  when,  from  being 
a  shepherd,  He  made  him  King  over  India  ?  Turn,  then,  to 
Him  and  confess  thine  error.  His  mercy  is  infinite.  Thine  old 
age  shall  not  hinder  any  great  thing.  He  has  many  vast  inheri 
tances  to  bestow.  Abraham  was  more  than  a  hundred  years 
old  when  he  begot  Isaac,  and  was  Sarah  a  young  girl?  Thou 

1  Maestros  de  la  guerra  de  Vuestras  Altezas.  This  seems  to  be  an 
error  of  the  copyist.  The  act  of  Columbus,  however  feeble,  was  rational 
and  voluntary;  there  would  be  no  pertinency  in  his  summoning  to  his 
aid  the  distant  navy  of  Spain. 


464   THE  LAST  VOYAGES  OF  THE  AD  AURAL. 

callest  for  a  doubtful  succor  :  Answer ;  who  has  afflicted  thee  so 
much  and  so  often  —  God,  or  the  World  ?  The  privileges  and 
promises  which  God  gives,  He  does  not  break  ;  nor  does  He  say, 
after  having  received  the  stipulated  service,  that  His  intention 
was  not  thus  and  so  and  that  He  is  to  be  understood  in  another 
way ;  nor  does  He  inflict  sufferings  merely  to  color  the  exercise 
of  power.  He  deals  with  scrupulous  exactness ;  all  that  He 
promises  He  fulfils  with  usury.  Is  this  the  common  usage  ? 
1  have  said  what  thy  Creator  has  done  for  thee  and  does  for  all. 
This  present  moment  shows  the  reward  of  these  anxieties  and 
perils  which  thou  hast  passed  through  in  serving  others.1 

"  I,  while  thus  swooned  away,  heard  all ;  but  had  not  an  answer 
for  such  true  words,  except  to  lament  my  errors.  Whoever  it  was 
ended  by  saying, '  Do  not  fear ;  have  faith.  All  these  tribulations 
are  written  in  marble,  and  not  without  cause.1 " 

When  the  Admiral  had  this  dream  he  was  a  physical 
wreck,  having  been  bedridden  for  almost  eight  months  from 
gout  and  fever,  to  which  was  added,  during  part  of  the  time, 
the  outbreak  of  an  old  wound.  What  difficulties  and  emer 
gencies  he  encountered  in  this  time  have  been  but  lightly 
sketched  in  the  preceding  pages.  If  we  bear  in  mind  the 
fact  that  in  this  feeble  condition  he  had  passed  through  the 
whole  of  the  rainy  season  on  one  of  the  most  notoriously 
insalubrious  coasts  in  the  world,  we  shall  be  able  to  form  an 
adequate  idea  of  his  bodily  and  mental  state.  A  modern 
commander,  in  similar  plight,  would  be  kept  under  restraint 
by  his  fleet-surgeon  ;  Columbus  had  no  medical  treatment 
more  efficient  than  that  of  Master  Bernal,  the  ship's  apothe 
cary,  and  plain  Mark,  her  blood-letting  surgeon-barber,  and 
neither  of  these  was  likely  to  attempt  any  control  over  a 
High  Admiral  of  Castile.  That,  in  a  moment  of  supreme 
exhaustion  and  despondency,  his  ingrained  religious  bias 
should  assert  itself  predominantly  does  not  seem  remark 
able.  To  stamp  him  as  an  impostor,  weakly  trying  to  sway 
the  policy  of  King  Ferdinand  through  the  medium  of  a 
fabricated  "vision,"  is  a  convenient  theory  which  does  not 
square  with  the  facts.  We  have  seen  him  repeatedly 
addressing  his  sovereigns  with  a  frankness  which  would  be 
startling  but  for  their  evident  complaisance  towards  him  in 
this  respect.  Looking  upon  this  dream  as  a  matter  of  deep 


AN  INACCESSIBLE    OCEAN.  465 

import,  he  included  it  in  his  hasty  report  from  Jamaica,  as 
he  did  other  affairs  of  interest.  "  This  letter  I  send  by  the 
hand  and  agency  of  Indians,"  he  wrote,  in  preparing  that 
report  in  his  forlorn  Jamaican  exile,  with  not  one  chance 
in  a  thousand  of  leaving  it  alive ;  "  a  great  miracle  shall 
it  be  if  it  reach  you."  What  a  travesty  of  criticism  to 
intimate  that  he  concocted  the  whole  story  "  to  impress 
his  sovereigns." 

On  Easter  evening,  towards  the  end  of  April,  the  three 
vessels  now  composing  the  squadron  weighed  anchor  and 
again  stood  along  the  coast  to  the  eastward,  following 
their  original  course.  It  soon  became  apparent  that  they 
were  in  no  condition  to  make  a  protracted  voyage  in  any 
direction.  Their  hulls  were  so  riddled  by  the  teredo  that, 
under  the  stress  of  motion,  they  began  to  look  like  sieves! 
Running  into  Porto  Bello  an  attempt  was  made  to  stanch 
the  worst  leaks ;  but  the  "  Vizcaina  "  proved  to  be  past  the 
calkers'  art.  The  flagship  and  the  "  Santiago  "  were  scarcely 
more  seaworthy ;  but  nothing  remained  but  to  crowd  upon 
them  the  condemned  vessel's  crew,  and  leave  her  to  rot  in 
the  harbor  mud.1  The  two  remaining  caravels  now  con 
tained  the  whole  expedition,  less  the  seventeen  dead  and 
plus  a  few  Indians  who  were  being  taken  to  Spain  to  learn 
the  language  with  a  view  to  possible  future  settlement  of 
their  country.  From  Porto  Bello  the  ships  continued  along 
the  coast,  passing  Bastimentos  and  El  Retrete  without  touch 
ing  at  either,  and  rounded  Point  San  Bias  in  safety.  Here 
they  entered  a  group  of  small  islands  called  by  the  Admiral 
the  Barbas,2  where  they  passed  the  night  at  anchor.  Still 
keeping  the  same  course,  the  vessels  sailed  some  forty  or 
fifty  miles  further  alongshore  to  a  point  not  far  from  the 
modern  Cape  Tiburon,  near  the  entrance  of  the  Gulf  of 
Darien.  By  this  time  the  condition  of  the  ships  was  such 
that  even  the  bravest  of  their  crews  protested  against  prose- 

1  Several  years  later  this  same  harbor  proved  a  haven  of  refuge  to 
Nicuesa,  who  was  guided  thither  by  a  former  sailor  of  the  Admiral's. 
They  found  the  "  Vizcaina's  "  anchor  just  where  the  sailor  said  it  would 
be. 

2  The  Mulatas  Islands  of  modern  charts. 

30 


466        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF  THE   ADMIRAL. 

cuting  the  voyage.  "All  the  people  were  not  enough, 
though  using  pumps,  kettles,  and  casks,  to  bale  out  the 
water  which  was  pouring  in  through  the  holes  made  by  the 
worms,"  says  stout-hearted  Diego  Mendez.  The  Admiral 
called  his  captains  and  pilots  together,  and  they  unanimously 
advised  him  to  steer  for  San  Domingo  without  a  day's  delay. 
Whatever  Ovando  might  have  done  on  their  outward  voyage, 
he  could  not,  in  common  humanity,  they  claimed,  refuse 
them  an  entrance  under  their  present  desperate  circum 
stances.  Without  expressing  his  own  opinion  on  this  point, 
the  Admiral  concurred  in  their  decision  as  to  the  futility 
of  any  farther  exploration.  On  the  ist  of  May  the  ships' 
heads  were  turned  northward,  and  the  search  for  the  strait 
was  ended. 

Columbus  had  neither  abandoned  his  belief  in  the  exist 
ence  of  the  strait,  nor  did  he  doubt  that  he  had  been  within 
almost  touching  distance  of  those  oriental  provinces  whose 
attainment  had  been  for  so  long  his  chief  professional  ambi 
tion.  The  Indians  had  certainly  referred  to  a  "narrow 
place"  of  some  kind  between  two  seas,  and  this  he  —  and 
others  long  after  him  —  understood  to  be  a  passage  by 
water.  His  readiness  to  suspend  further  exploration  was 
not  due  to  any  sense  of  defeat,  but  to  the  appalling  ravage 
made  by  the  teredo  in  the  timbers  of  his  ships.  "  The  vessels 
were  more  perforated  by  the  worms  than  is  a  honeycomb  by 
bees,"  to  apply  his  own  description.  Any  one  who  is  familiar 
with  the  extraordinary  riddling  powers  of  these  pests  of 
tropical  waters  will  understand  that  the  two  unsheathed 
caravels  were  in  no  condition  to  hazard  the  voyage  from 
Darien  to  Spain.  "  With  one  month  of  good  weather,  I 
would  have  completed  my  voyage,"  the  Admiral  distinctly 
declares.  "  Through  the  failure  of  my  ships  I  did  not  ven 
ture  to  await  it  [such  weather]  in  order  to  recommence  the 
voyage."  He  recalls  his  suggestion  for  building  a  different 
type  of  craft  for  navigation  in  the  western  seas,  and  thinks 
that,  had  there  been  time  to  do  this  before  leaving  Spain,  he 
would  have  reached  his  goal.  The  winds  and  currents  in 
the  Indies,  he  points  out,  are  such  that  satisfactory  headway 
can  only  be  made  when  the  breeze  is  dead  abaft ;  "  no  one 


AN  INACCESSIBLE    OCEAN.  467 

dares  to  sail  on  a  bowline,  because  in  one  day  they  will  lose 
all  they  have  gained  in  seven."  This  is  the  cause,  he  adds, 
why  vessels  sometimes  remain  in  port  for  six  or  eight  months 
awaiting  a  fair  wind,  —  as  they  were  occasionally  compelled 
to  do  even  in  Spain,  and  these  were  the  reasons  by  which  he 
accounted  for  his  slow  progress  along  the  coast  and  for  his 
retirement  from  it  before  his  task  was  accomplished.  They 
seem  to  us  to  be  more  rational  than  the  assertion  afterwards 
made  by  some  of  his  disaffected  sailors,  that  the  cause  of 
his  not  finding  the  strait  was  his  failure  to  start  from  Jamaica 
as  he  originally  proposed.  He  himself  informs  us  that  he 
did  not  wish  his  men  to  know  their  whereabouts.  Porras 
adds  that,  to  accomplish  this,  he  took  from  them  all  their 
maps  and  charts.  In  consequence,  when  the  two  ships  left 
Terra  Firma  and  steered  northwards,  some  of  the  pilots 
thought  they  were  bound  for  San  Domingo,  others  for  Porto 
Rico,  and  others  still  that  they  were  heading  direct  for  Spain. 
As  before  said,  the  Admiral's  pilots  had  secured  some  rough 
map  of  the  discoveries  of  Bastidas.  When,  therefore,  the 
Admiral  first  reached  Porto  Bello  and  El  Retrete  in  Decem 
ber,  those  ports  were  recognized  as  having  been  the  westward 
limit  of  that  explorer's  expedition.  The  second  cruise  of 
the  Admiral  to  and  beyond  these  points,  after  the  withdrawal 
of  the  Belen  garrison,  appears  to  have  been  due  rather  to  a 
desire  to  connect  his  own  later  discoveries  definitely  with 
those  of  Bastidas  than  to  run  into  a  favorable  wind,  as  is 
usually  supposed.  Bastidas  had  certainly  found  no  strait 
between  Paria  and  Darien ;  if  Columbus  lapped  over  the 
termination  of  Bastidas's  cruise,  he  would  possess  the  cer 
tainty  that  no  passage  existed  through  the  Darien  coast. 
This  is  an  intelligible  motive  for  his  keeping  still  eastward 
after  finally  leaving  Veragua ;  while  there  was  no  ground 
then  known  to  him  for  expecting  a  fairer  wind  off  the  Gulf 
of  Darien  than  off  the  mouth  of  the  Belen  River.  The 
negative  result  of  his  close  scrutiny  of  the  coast  below 
Veragua  had  given  shape  to  a  vague  idea  which  he  had 
gathered  from  the  natives  of  that  region  and  from  Don 
Bartholomew's  accounts  of  his  expeditions  inland.  The 
repeated  references  by  the  Indians  to  a  province  or  country 


468        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

lying  to  the  westward  which  was  washed  by  another  sea  had 
made  a  profound  impression.  Whether  this  were  Ciguare, 
Cathay,  or  an  unnamed  land  was  far  from  clear.  The  occu 
pants  of  the  canoe  at  Guanaja  said  it  was  a  ten  days'  journey 
thither;  the  guides  who  took  Don  Bartholomew  up  the 
Veragua  River  told  him  it  was  twenty  days  away.  They  all 
seemed  to  intimate  that  this  western  kingdom,  where  gold 
was  so  plentiful  and  the  arts  so  far  advanced,  possessed  its 
own  coast-line.  It  was  not  long  before  the  Admiral  had 
formulated  the  theory  that  another  ocean  lay  behind  Veragua 
and  Cariay.  If  so,  his  faith  in  a  strait  was  well-founded. 
But  if  no  strait  existed  to  the  eastward  of  Veragua,  it  must 
lie  further  to  the  west  or  north.  There  was  something 
else  besides  "visions,"  and  puerile  schemes  to  humbug  the 
shrewdest  monarch  in  Christendom,  at  work  in  the  Admiral's 
mind  while  he  lay  on  his  pallet  during  the  long  weeks  at 
Belen  and  Porto  Bello. 

"  It  appears  that  these  countries  are  situated,  with  relation 
to  Veragua,  as  Tortosa  is  to  Fuenterabia,  or  as  Pisa  is  to 
Venice,"  was  his  conclusion.  That  is  to  say,  that  the  new 
continent  which  he  had  discovered  three  years  before  at 
Paria,  which  Pinzon  and  Lepe  had  carried  ten  degrees 
below  the  Equator  and  Hojeda  and  Bastidas  had  traced 
westward  to  Porto  Bello,  was,  although  on  a  vastly  greater 
scale,  a  huge  peninsula  like  Spain  and  Portugal,  or  Italy ; 
and  that  the  ocean  encompassing  it  approached  so  near  to 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico  (as  we  call  it)  in  the  latitude  of  Veragua, 
that  the  latter  coast  was  separated  from  that  to  the  west 
only  as  the  opposite  cities  of  the  Spanish  and  Italian  penin 
sulas  are  separated.  A  glance  at  any  map  of  Europe  will 
satisfy  the  fair-minded  reader  that,  in  spite  of  his  imperfect 
comprehension  of  the  Indian  signs  and  language,  Columbus 
had  arrived  at  a  very  just  conception  of  the  relative  positions 
of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  oceans,  and  of  the  narrow  neck 
into  which  the  southern  continent  was  contracted  above  the 
Gulf  of  Darien.  Those  who  detect  evidences  of  his  insanity 
in  the  account  of  his  dream,  pass  slightingly  over  the  words 
which  we  have  quoted  and  which  show  his  quick  geographical 
perceptions,  although  both  references  are  contained  in  the 


AN  INACCESSIBLE    OCEAN, 


469 


same  report.  He  may  have  had  some  crude  idea  of  a  sea 
beyond  Veragua,  they  grudgingly  concede  ;  but  it  was  noth 
ing  more  than  a  speculative  fancy.  In  this  they  do  him  a 
gratuitous  wrong.  Although  his  words,  written  within  three 
months  of  leaving  Belen,  are  sufficiently  plain,  he  was  much 
more  explicit  in  a  letter  subsequently  written  to  Peter 
Martyr.  That  indefatigable  chronicler  of  geographical  nov 
elties  was  not  content  with  a  passing  reference  to  a  problem 
of  such  surpassing  interest  as  the  possible  existence  of  a 
new  ocean,  and  obtained  a  detailed  presentation  of  the 
Admiral's  argument.  We  quote  him  literally,  from  Richard 
Eden's  quaint  but  effective  translation  :  — 

"'  Colonus  the  Admiral  the  first  finder  of  these  regions  afrirm- 
eth  that  the  tops  of  the  mountains  of  Veragua  are  more  than 
fifty  miles  in  height  [!].  He  saith  furthermore  that  in  the  same 
region  at  the  roots  of  the  mountains  the  way  is  open  to  the 
south  sea,  and  compareth  it,  as  it  were,  between  Venice  and 
Genoa.  ...  He  afnrmeth  also  that  this  land  reacheth  forth 
toward  the  south:  and  from  hence  it  taketh  the  beginning  of 
breadth,  like  as  from  the  Alps  out  of  the  narrow  thigh  of  Italy 
we  see  the  large  and  main  lands  of  France,  Germany,  and  Pan- 
nonia.  .  .  .  The  Admiral  supposeth  that  on  the  left  hand,  in 
sailing  toward  the  west,  this  land  is  joined  to  India  beyond  the 
River  of  Ganges ;  and  that  on  the  right  hand  toward  the  north, 
it  be  extended  to  the  frozen  sea,  beyond  the  Hyperboreans  and 
the  North  Pole.  So  that  both  these  seas  (that  is  to  say,  the 
South  Sea,  which  we  said  to  be  found  by  Vaschus,1  and  our 
Ocean)  should  join  and  meet  in  the  corners  of  that  land ;  and 
that  the  waters  of  these  seas  do  not  only  [i.e.,  unbrokenly] 
enclose  and  compass  the  same  without  division  as  Europe  is 
enclosed.1'1  .  .  . 

This,  then,  was  the  geographical  fruit  of  the  Admiral's 
wearisome  voyage.  The  great  continent  in  the  South  ex 
tended  west  to  India,  but  dwindled  to  a  neck  of  land  near 

1  This  allusion  to  Vasco  Nufiez  de  Balboa,  and  his  subsequent  dis 
covery  of  the  Pacific,  only  emphasizes  the  correctness  of  Columbus's 
earlier  inference.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  point  out  that  Peter 
Martyr  was  writing  several  years  after  the  death  of  Columbus;  but  it  is 
equally  obvious  that  he  was  transcribing  from  some  letter  of  the 
Admiral  which  contained  the  views  he  epitomizes  so  clearly. 


470        THE  LAST    VOYAGES  OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

Veragua ;  the  northern  continent  of  Cabot  reached  to  the 
North  Pole.  Between  them  rolled  the  same  ocean  which 
bathed  the  shores  of  China,  India,  and  the  Spice  Islands ; 
and  this  ocean  communicated  with  the  Atlantic,  or  the 
Ocean  Sea,  by  a  strait  which  broke  somewhere  through  the 
mountain  chain  which  connected  the  northern  and  the 
southern  continents.  This  passage  he  had  failed  to  find ; 
but  he  believed  it  to  be  there.  Had  he  been  favored  with 
but  a  single  month  more  of  good  weather,  he  thought,  and 
had  his  ships  been  serviceable,  he  would  have  found  it ! 
More  "delusions,"  if  you  please ;  but  a  singularly  close  ap 
proach  to  a  correct  estimate  of  western  geography.  Near 
enough,  at  all  events,  to  induce  half  a  dozen  bold  spirits  to 
attempt  to  find  the  "South  Sea"  as  soon  as  the  results  of  the 
Admiral's  latest  exploration  were  known.  We  hear  much  of 
his  failure  to  discover  the  strait  he  started  to  find ; 1  but  little 
of  the  ocean  he  so  unerringly  located.  Could  we  but  know 
what  passed  between  the  Admiral  and  his  brother  when  the 
latter  returned  from  his  journey  to  the  summit  of  the  Vera- 
guan  mountain  pass,  we  might  find  that,  years  before  the 
fiery  Balboa,  the  more  phlegmatic  Don  Bartholomew  had 
heard  of  the  blue  streak  in  the  west  which  heralded  the 
existence  of  the  Peaceful  Sea. 

Columbus  was  sadly  aware  that  Ferdinand  and  Isabella 
would  not  gauge  the  success  of  his  expedition  by  its  geo 
graphical  results.  To  them  one  string  of  Indian  names  was 
much  like  another ;  if  he  had  failed  to  find  an  entrance  into 

1  In  Winsor's  "  Narrative  and  Critical  History  of  America,"  Vol.  II. 
p.  218,  is  reproduced  a  map  of  Maiollo  of  as  late  a  date  as  1527  in  which 
the  "Streito  Cnb'itoso"  (Query:  Streito  dubttoso,  or  Doubtful  Strait?) 
is  delineated  as  cutting  across  the  Isthmus  from  ocean  to  ocean;  and 
as  late  as  1532  Munster  reproduced  it  in  his  map.  We  have  differed 
so  radically  from  Dr.  Winsor's  estimate  of  Columbus  and  his  work,  as 
given  in  "  Christopher  Columbus,  and  how  he  received  and  transmitted 
the  Spirit  of  Discovery,"  that  we  the  more  readily  admit  the  obliga 
tions  which,  in  common  with  all  students  of  our  early  history,  we  are 
under  for  the  learned  author's  "  Narrative  and  Critical  History."  It  is 
a  monument  of  patient  and  most  laborious  research,  and,  little  as  we 
may  agree  with  some  of  its  conclusions,  it  has  spared  us  too  many 
hours  of  wearisome  investigation  to  receive  aught  but  grateful  and 
admiring  acknowledgment  at  our  feeble  hands. 


AN  INACCESSIBLE    OCEAN.  4/1 

the  eastern  seas,  his  standing  with  them  was  gone  —  unless 
he  brought  gold.     We  have  seen  that,  beyond  verifying  the 
existence  of  that  metal  in  abundance,   and  securing  such 
quantity  of  it  by  barter  as  would  confirm  his  assertions,  he 
did  not  propose  at  first  to  tarry  even  where  it  was  most  plen 
tiful.     "  I  was  not  in  favor  of  turning  back,"  is  his  emphatic 
comment  upon  the  return  to  Veragua  suggested  by  his  men. 
But  when  he  was  forced,  by  the  destruction  of  his  ships,  to 
give  up  the  search    for   the    strait,  his  thoughts   recurred, 
naturally  enough,  to  the  compensation  assured  to  his  sov 
ereigns  in  the  incalculable  wealth  of  the  Veraguan  coasts. 
Warned  by  the  bitter  consequences  which  flowed  from  his 
neglect  in  earlier  years  to  allow  for  the  difficulties  to  be  sur 
mounted  before  even  great  natural  riches  could  be  securely 
gathered  into  the  royal  coffers,  he  imposes  upon  himself  a 
rigid  exactness  of  language.     "This  punishment  leads  me 
now  to  say  nothing  but  what  I  hear  from  the  natives  of  the 
country.     One  thing  I  venture  to  say,  because  there  are  so 
many  witnesses,  and  that  is,  that  I  have  seen  in  this  land  of 
Veragua   greater  evidence    of   gold  in   the   first  two  days 
than  in  Hispaniola  during  four  years."     After  alluding   to 
the  fertility  of  the  country,  its  easily  defended  ports,  and 
the  cowardly  disposition  of  its  people  —  as  judged  from  the 
Spanish  point    of  view,  he  says:   "Your  Majesties    are  as 
much  lords  over  this  as  over  Xeres    or  Toledo.     Such  of 
your  ships  as  may  go  thither  will  go  as  though  to  their  own 
home.     From  there  they  will  gather  gold.     In  other  coun 
tries,  in  order  to  have  what  is  in  them,  it  is  needful  that 
they  take  it  by  force,  or  they  will  return  empty ;  and  while 
on  land  they  [i.e.  the  Spaniards]  must  trust  their  persons  to 
a  savage."1     He  explains    that,  when  he    found  his    ships 
were  unseaworthy,  his  first  idea  was  to  settle  in   Veragua 
with  all  his  force,  as  the  most  advantageous  course  to  follow 

1  "The  man  was  mad,"  is  Dr.  Winsor's  charitable  comment  on  this 
passage,  as  it  is  m ?.r-translated  in  Mr.  Major's  "  Select  Letters  of  Colum 
bus,"  published  by  the  Hakluyt  Society.  Had  the  learned  writer 
referred  to  the  Admiral's  own  language,  he  would  have  seen  that,  so  far 
from  being  "  mad,"  Columbus  was  showing  plain  common  sense  in  his 
remarks  to  his  sovereigns. 


4/2        THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

under  the  circumstances.  Afterwards  he  decided  to  with 
draw  everybody.  "The  apprehension  that  no  ships  might 
ever  touch  there  decided  me  to  do  this,  and  the  reflection 
that  when  relief  is  sent  everything  will  be  provided  for." 
He  would  not  sanction  a  general  robbery  of  the  Indians' 
hoards  of  gold,  because  "  it  did  not  seem  well  to  me  nor 
for  your  Majesties'  interest  that  it  should  be  taken  by  vio 
lence.  Good  treatment  will  avoid  discontent  and  an  ill 
name,  and  will  result  in  its  all  reaching  the  Treasury,  so  that 
not  a  grain  is  left."  In  saying  this  he  clearly  makes  the  dis 
tinction,  as  always  before,  between  those  natives  who  were 
peaceable  and  those  who  were  unfriendly.  Don  Bartholo 
mew's  raid  upon  the  King  of  Veragua  was  a  necessary  war 
measure,  not  robbery. 

The  "  secret  "  both  of  the  strait  and  of  the  gold  coast  was 
confined  to  himself  and  his  brother.  Pursuing  a  policy  of 
absolute  reticence  as  to  his  own  ideas,  and  taking  from  his 
men  such  charts  as  they  possessed  or  drew,  the  Admiral 
strove  to  prevent  his  followers  from  having  any  exact  knowl 
edge  of  the  whereabouts  of  Veragua,  at  least  until  he  could 
communicate  with  the  King  and  Queen.  In  this  he  was 
immeasurably  aided  by  the  constant  changes  of  direction 
forced  upon  him  by  the  succession  of  gales  encountered 
throughout  the  voyage.  "  One  hundred  and  fifty  men  went 
with  me,"  he  writes,  "among  them  many  qualified  to  be 
pilots  and  notable  mariners ;  not  one  of  them  can  give  a 
reliable  account  of  where  I  went  or  whence  I  came."  "  Let 
them  say,  if  they  know,"  he  repeats,  "where  is  the  situa 
tion  of  Veragua.  I  reiterate  that  they  cannot  give  any 
other  answer  or  report,  except  that  they  went  to  certain 
countries  where  there  is  much  gold,  and  testify  to  that; 
but  they  are  ignorant  of  the  road  to  return  to  it.  To  reach 
it,  it  would  be  necessary  to  discover  it  again,  as  at  first." 
But  in  taking  these  elaborate  precautions  for  concealment, 
the  Admiral  had  no  intention  other  than  to  escape  a  repeti 
tion  of  the  utterly  unjust  treatment  to  which  he  had  been 
subjected  after  his  former  discoveries.  "  I  cannot  think  of 
Hispaniola  and  Paria  and  the  other  countries  without 
grieving,"  he  frankly  declares.  "  I  felt  that  the  experience 


AN  INACCESSIBLE    OCEAN.  473 

with  them  would  have  to  be  reversed  for  these  other  lands. 
....  It  is  not  just  that  those  who  have  always  been  op 
posed  to  this  enterprise  should  enjoy  its  benefits,  or  their 
children."  He  did  not  propose,  if  he  could  prevent  it,  that 
Veragua  should  be  overrun  by  reckless  adventurers  as  Paria 
had  been.  "  I  hold  in  greater  estimation  this  discovery  and 
its  mines,"  is  his  assertion,  "  with  its  port  and  adjacent  terri 
tory,  than  all  else  that  has  been  done  in  the  Indies.  This  is 
no  child  to  be  turned  over  to  a  step-mother."  Within  ten 
years  his  estimate  of  the  value  of  Veragua  was  as  fully  justi 
fied  as  was  his  theory  of  an  ocean  beyond  it.  So  famous 
was  it  for  treasure  that  the  descendants  of  Columbus,  when 
chosing  the  title  under  which  they  should  be  known,  selected 
that  of  Dukes  of  Veragua  as  being  the  one  likely  to  reflect 
upon  them  the  greatest  distinction. 

That  he  did  not  himself  gather  any  more  of  the  fruit  of 
this  last  harsh  experience  than  he  had  of  those  preceding  it, 
troubled  the  Admiral  less  than  it  since  has  his  biographers. 
"  I  did  not  come  to  sail  this  voyage  to  gain  glory  or  wealth," 
he  affirms,  "because  all  expectation  of  that  was  dead 
within  me.  I  came  to  serve  your  Majesties  with  honest 
purpose  and  hearty  zeal,  and  I  do  not  lie."  For  one,  we 
believe  the  great  sailor.  His  attempt  had  resulted  other 
wise  than  he  had  hoped  ;  but  he  loyally  set  himself  to  turn 
it  to  the  greatest  advantage  possible  for  his  royal  patrons. 
His  heart  was  in  his  explorations  ;  but  his  judgment  led  him 
to  give  due  heed  to  the  material  benefits  incidentally  dis 
covered.  A  remarkable,  almost  unique,  succession  of  catas 
trophes  foiled  his  main  purpose,  and  he  labored  to  secure  a 
compensation  for  the  Crown  in  the  face  of  his  personal  dis 
appointment  and  deep  distress. 

"  Let  those  who  are  used  to  criticise  and  find  fault  reply 
now,  saying  from  their  own  safe  corner,  Why  did  you  not  do 
so  and  so  out  yonder?  Heartily  do  I  wish  they  were  in 
this  undertaking,"  is  his  pertinent  reflection,  after  rehears 
ing  the  story  of  his  cruise.  It  is,  perhaps,  as  applicable 
to-day  as  when  its  ink  was  fresh. 


XXIII. 


THE   GREATEST   PERIL   OF   ALL. 

DESPITE  the  expectations  of  his  pilots,  and  the  dan 
gerous  condition  of  his  vessels,  it  was  not  the  Ad 
miral's  purpose  to  make  direct  for  Hispaniola  on  leaving 
the  Gulf  of  Darien.  The  remembrance  of  Ovando's  refusal 
to  aid  him  the  year  before  was  too  fresh  to  risk  a  repetition 
of  it.  His  plan  was  rather  to  reach  the  southern  coast  of 
Jamaica,  as  near  as  possible  to  Cape  Morant,  whence  he 
could  despatch  messengers  by  boat  to  the  opposite  cape  of 
Hispaniola,  and  so  communicate  with  the  governor  at  San 
Domingo.  Jamaica,  having  as  yet  no  Spanish  colony,  was 
within  his  own  bailiwick,  although  within  a  day's  easy  sail 
of  the  western  extremity  of  Hispaniola.  It  would  serve  as 
a  secure  refuge,  even  in  the  event  of  a  second  rebuff  from 
Ovando,  and  from  it  an  appeal  to  the  Crown  for  assistance 
could,  in  the  last  extremity,  be  made.  The  governor  could 
not  decline  to  transmit  the  Admiral's  despatches  to  their 
Majesties.  Another  consideration  which  may  have  influ 
enced  Columbus  in  laying  his  course  for  Jamaica,  was  its 
closer  proximity  to  the  coast  he  was  abandoning.  His  two 
caravels  were  now  literally  in  the  last  stages  of  dissolution. 
If  he  could  run  across  the  intervening  ocean  to  Jamaica, 
he  might  save  them;  but  repeated  experiences  along  the 
Hispaniolan  shores  had  shown  how  likely  to  be  renewed  was 
his  contest  with  the  elements  if  he  attempted  to  fetch  San 
Domingo  Harbor  with  his  crazy  barks.  Even  as  it  was,  he 
found  his  calculations  again  frustrated  by  the  winds  and 
currents,  for  on  the  tenth  day  after  leaving  the  Isthmus  he 
474 


THE    GREATEST  PERIL    OF  ALL.  475 

sighted  the  two  islands  which  are  called  the  Caymans  on 
modern  maps,  but  which  he  named  the  Tortugas. l     Although 
within  200  miles  of  Jamaica  he  could  not  make  it  in  face  of 
the  head  winds  and  current,  but  was  forced  to  run  northward 
instead.     On  May  the   i3th  he  found  himself  once  more 
among  the  islets  and  cays  of  the  Queen's  Gardens,  whence 
he  passed  to  the  adjacent  coast  of  Cuba,  and  came  to  anchor 
not  far  from  the  site  of  the  modern  city  of  Trinidad.     To 
Columbus   this  was  still  the  province  of  Mangi,   "which 
touches  that  of  Cathay,"  as  he  had  concluded  in  1494.     It 
was  part  and  parcel  of  eastern  Asia,  on  the  coast  which,  as 
he  supposed,  swept  around  to  the  west  and  south  towards 
Cariay  and  Veragua.2     The  pilots  and  seamen  were  more 
surprised    than   gratified   to   find    themselves  as  far   from 
Hispaniola  as  when  they  left  the  shores  of    Darien,  and 
murmured  loudly  at  their  commander's  want  of  seamanship 
in  so  far  missing  his  supposed  destination.     He,  however, 
keeping  his  own  counsel,   followed  the  shore  toward  the 
eastward,  hoping  to  fetch  Cape  Cruz  and  thence  run  over 
to  Jamaica  as  he  had  done  in  '94.     Mindful  of  the  perils 
he  then  encountered  from  shoals  and  banks,  he  kept  well  out 
to  sea  at  the  present  time,  and  was  thus  exposed  to  the  full 
fury  of  a  gale  which  came  up  on  the  second  day  out.     To 
escape  this  he  ran  back  to  the  shelter  of  the  islands  along 
shore,  losing  his  sails  in  the  manoeuvre.     To  add  to  his 
dilemma,  during  the  night  three  of  the  four  cables  which 
were  paid  out  from  his  own  ship  parted,  and  his  consort, 
dragging  her  own  anchors,   bore  down  upon  him  in  the 
darkness  and  crashed  into  his  vessel  with  disastrous  force. 
"The  [remaining]  anchor,  by  the  way  it  stood  by  me,  was 

1  Misled  by  the  identity  of  name,  Irving  places  these  islands  to  the 
north-west  of  Hispaniola,  and  Dr.   Winsor  to  the  west  thereof.     The 
result  is  confusing  to  the  student  of  Columbus's  voyage,  who  reads  of 
the  vessels  arriving  only  three  days  later  on  the  southern  shore  of  Cuba. 
Las  Casas  positively  identities  the  Tortugas  with  the  Caymans,  and  the 
latter  are  clue  south  from  Cienfuegos. 

2  Irving  and  those  who  follow  him  make  Columbus  speak  of  this 
Mangi  as  part  of  the  Isthmus  of  Darien.     The  Admiral  himself  dis 
tinctly  refers  to  it  as  the  Mangi  of  his  Cuban  cruise,  and  the  identifica 
tion  is  supported  by  Diego  Mendez. 


476        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

what,  after  Our  Lord,  saved  me,"  he  says.  Had  his  last 
cable  parted,  both  caravels  must  have  gone  on  the  sands. 
As  it  was,  they  held  their  ground  until  daylight,  and  then 
found  a  safer  haven,  where  six  days  were  passed  in  tinker 
ing  up  the  battered  hulks  and  waiting  for  fair  weather. 
When  that  came  he  renewed  his  voyage,  only  to  be  beaten 
back  by  another  storm,  and  driven  to  seek  refuge  in  the  little 
island  he  had  left. 

At  last,   after  more   than  a  week  of   detention,  he  got 
under  way  again,   and  succeeded  in  crossing  over  to  Ja 
maica,  where,  on  the  23rd  of  June,  he  entered  the  harbor 
of  Puerto  Bueno  which  had  been  his  first  landfall  after  dis 
covering  the  island  nine  years  before.     The  circumstances 
of  his  present  visit  to  the  scenes  which  had  then  so  charmed 
him  formed  one  of  those  violent  and  dramatic  contrasts  with 
which  the  career  of  Columbus  abounded.     At  that  time,  he 
was  in  the  plenitude  of  his  vice-regal  power;  returning  from 
a  cruise  which  was  peculiarly  successful  from  his  standpoint, 
since  it  had  established  the  identity  of  Cuba  as  part  of  Asia, 
and  added  lordly  Jamaica  to  the  already  long  list  of  his  gifts 
to  Spain.     Now,  he  was  at  the  very  lowest  ebb  of  his  for 
tunes;  bound  to  his  pallet  by  chains  stronger  than  those  of 
Bobadilla,  harassed  by  the  absorbing  question  of  daily  food, 
knowing  that  his  leaky  tubs  were  sailing  their  last  knots, 
doubtful   of   his   reception  by   the   natives,    aware   of   the 
mutinous  spirit  rising  among  his  own  men,  and  forced  to 
contemplate   the   imminent  possibility  of  disaster  to  his 
companions,  and  almost  certain  death  to   himself  before 
succor  could  reach  them  or  him.     The  last  rations  were 
being  doled  out;  the  ships  had  lost  sails,  anchors  and  rig 
ging;  they  had  reached  a  stage  where  "with  three  pumps, 
basins,  and  kettles,  all  hands  together  could  not  bail  out  the 
water  which  entered  the  hull,  nor  for  this  curse  of  the  teredo 
is  any  other  cure  possible,"  to  use  the  Admiral's  own  words. 
Hopeless  as  was  the  outlook  on  board  the  caravels,  he  only 
passed  a  single  day  in  Puerto  Bueno.     The  harbor  was  situ 
ated  in  the  north-west  corner  of  Jamaica,  at  almost  that  part 
of  the  island  most  remote  from  Hispaniola.     It  was  essen 
tial  to  get  as  near  the  eastern  end  as  practicable,  so  as  to  be 


THE    GREATEST  PERIL    OF  ALL.  477 

within  the  shortest  possible  distance  of  the  latter  coast,  and 
Puerto  Bueno  was,  moreover,  uninhabited  and  destitute  of 
supplies.  For  the  last  time  the  gaping  hulls  put  to  sea, 
steering  eastward,  close  alongshore.  It  was  soon  apparent 
that  they  might  founder  at  any  moment,  so  fast  were  the 
leaks  gaining  on  the  crews.  A  few  miles  further  on  they 
came  to  another  bay,  where  a  native  village  held  out  the 
hope  of  provisions  and  shelter.  The  caravels  were  now  so 
full  of  water  that  they  could  with  difficulty  make  an  entrance, 
but  after  much  trouble  they  were  headed  in  shore  and  run 
as  far  up  towards  the  beach  as  their  water-logged  hulls  would 
allow.  If  they  were  to  sink,  the  shallow  bottom  was  near 
enough  to  prevent  loss  of  life.  "Who  would  believe  what 
I  here  write?"  inquires  the  Admiral;  "I  declare  that  I 
have  not  told  one  part  in  a  hundred  in  this  letter." 

The  first  requisite  was  to  provide  subsistence  for  the  com 
mand.  From  the  neighboring  village  only  a  scanty  supply 
could  be  obtained,  and  the  Spaniards'  stay  might  be  long. 
Diego  Mendez  with  three  comrades  was  sent  on  a  foraging 
expedition  through  the  neighborhood,  provided  with  an 
ample  store  of  trifles  for  barter,  and  carrying  instructions  to 
arrange  with  the  chiefs  of  the  villages  visited  to  send  regular 
supplies  of  cassava,  maize,  and  other  Indian  foods  to  Santa 
Gloria,  as  the  Admiral  had  named  his  harbor  of  refuge. 
Mendez  journeyed  on  foot  as  far  as  Cape  Antonio  near  the 
eastern  end  of  the  island,  contracting  as  carefully  as  any 
modern  quartermaster  for  immediate  supplies  as  well  as  for 
future  deliveries,  sending  back  his  companions  one  by  one 
at  the  head  of  a  string  of  native  porters  loaded  with  the 
results  of  his  work,  and  arranging  for  the  systematic  contin 
uance  of  the  service.  From  the  cape  he  returned  by  sea, 
bringing  a  flotilla  of  half  a  dozen  canoes  laden  with  the 
wholesome  Indian  provisions,  and  able  to  report  that  food 
would  be  plentiful  in  the  future.  He  had  established  a 
permanent  scale  of  prices  in  beads  and  other  trinkets  for 
the  supplies  to  be  received,  and  both  natives  and  Spaniards 
were  delighted  with  the  outcome  of  his  mission.  The 
Admiral's  critics  explain  this  obviously  intelligent  and  just 
measure  by  the  fact  that,  having  no  ships  to  retreat  to,  he 


478        THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

was  afraid  to  treat  the  Indians  otherwise  than  well.  If  so, 
it  is  the  only  time  on  record  that  140  fully  armed  Spaniards 
were  afraid  of  anything  in  the  way  of  naked  Indians  when 
their  own  lives  were  at  stake. 

During  the  absence  of  Mendez,  Columbus  had  discussed 
their  situation  exhaustively  with  his  principal  followers. 
The  unanimous  opinion  was  that  an  appeal  should  at  once 
be  made  to  Ovando  for  aid,  and,  failing  that,  a  messenger 
should  be  sent  to  Spain  by  the  first  fleet  leaving  San  Domingo. 
In  this  the  Admiral  concurred,  although  with  no  great  hope 
of  moving  the  governor  of  Hispaniola  to  lend  any  effective 
assistance.  His  own  idea  was  that  his  command  would 
have  to  sustain  themselves  as  best  they  might  until  relief 
was  sent  from  Spain,  which  might  not  reach  them  for  a  year 
and  a  half,  if  at  all.  His  reluctance  to  disobey  their  Majes 
ties'  orders,  coupled  with  his  doubt  as  to  Ovando's  readiness 
to  render  help,  led  him  to  be  skeptical  as  to  the  chance  of 
anything  being  accomplished  in  San  Domingo.  At  the 
same  time  he  was  bound  to  make  the  effort.  A  very  prac 
tical  problem  requiring  solution  was  the  means  of  getting 
any  message  or  dispatch  at  all  to  Hispaniola.  The  shortest 
distance  between  the  islands  was  from  Cape  Morant  to  Cape 
Tiburon,  a  clear  100  miles.  His  first  intention  was  to  in 
duce  some  friendly  natives  to  attempt  to  cross  over,  in  one 
of  their  large  canoes,  from  the  eastern  end  of  Jamaica  to 
Hispaniola.  Although  the  distance  was  so  great,  he  knew 
that  such  journeys  were  not  unusual  among  the  amphibious 
islanders,  to  whom  the  swamping  of  a  canoe  was  a  laughing 
matter.  He  therefore  set  to  work  preparing  letters  to 
Ovando,  the  King  and  Queen,  and  some  of  his  devoted 
friends  in  Spain,  recounting  the  events  of  his  voyage,  and 
asking  for  the  means  of  escaping  from  his  present  straits. 
Before  these  were  completed,  Diego  Mendez  arrived  from 
his  journey  and  volunteered  to  make  the  daring  effort  in 
person.  The  offer  was  as  promptly  accepted  by  the  Ad 
miral.  Mendez  put  a  false  keel  on  his  canoe,  nailed  a  strip 
of  planking  along  her  gunwales  to  give  her  a  higher  free 
board,  and  provided  a  mast  and  sail  for  use  in  case  the  wind 
should  serve.  The  crew  was  to  consist  of  six  stalwart  native 


THE    GREATEST  PERIL    OF  ALL.  479 

paddlers.  Such  was  the  activity  shown  in  the  preparations 
that  in  two  days  the  little  craft  was  ready  for  her  perilous 
expedition. 

Several  of  the  Admiral's  letters  which  were  entrusted  to 
Mendez  have  come  down  to  us.  They  bear  the  date  of 
Julyyth,  which  must  have  been  approximately  that  of  the 
messenger's  departure.  One  of  them,  addressed  to  Ferdi 
nand  and  Isabella,  is  famous  as  the  lettera  rarissima,  and 
from  it  we  have  quoted  freely  in  preceding  chapters.  It 
recites  the  chief  incidents  of  the  voyage,  his  so-called 
"vision,"  and  dwells  at  great  length  upon  the  vast  impor 
tance  of  Veragua  as  a  source  of  future  revenue.  In  urging 
this  upon  their  Majesties,  the  Admiral  lays  stress  upon  the 
supreme  power  of  gold  in  all  mundane  affairs,  and  the 
duty  of  all  good  Christians  to  amass  it.  In  the  eyes  of  his 
critics  this  stands  as  a  frank  declaration  of  the  sordid  ava 
rice  which  they  insist  consumed  him.  If  such  were  the  case, 
he  assuredly  chose  a  singular  season  and  place  for  making 
his  avowal.  But  if  we  read  his  words  with  due  relation  to 
their  context  and  his  known  ambitions,  we  find  another  suf 
ficient  cause  for  his  anxiety  to  impress  upon  his  sovereigns 
the  sacred  duty  of  securing  the  gold  so  bountifully  offered 
to  them  by  his  discovery  of  Veragua.  Both  the  King  and 
Queen  had  declared  to  the  Admiral,  after  his  return  from 
the  finding  of  San  Salvador,  that  they  approved  his  scheme 
for  the  recovery  of  Jerusalem  from  the  Moslem.  The  events 
which  had  since  elapsed  had  deprived  him  of  the  great 
revenues  anticipated  successively  from  Hispaniola  and 
Paria;  but  he  was  still  under  the  vow  he  had  reported  to 
Pope  Sextus  in  1502.  If  their  Majesties  would  but  follow 
his  counsel  and  save  Veragua  from  the  evils  which  had 
overtaken  his  earlier  discoveries,  ample  resources  were 
assured  for  the  prosecution  of  his  crusade,  notwithstanding 
past  disasters. 

"  The  Genoese,  Venetians,  and  every  other  people  which  pos 
sesses  pearls,  precious  stones,  or  other  commodities  of  value," 
argues  the  Admiral,  "  carry  them  to  the  ends  of  the  Earth  in 
order  to  barter  them  and  exchange  them  for  gold.  Gold  is 
supremely  excellent;  out  of  gold  is  wealth  constituted,  and 


480       THE  LAST    VOYAGES    OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

whoever  possesses  it  can  by  its  means  do  whatever  he  wishes  in 
the  world.  It  even  suffices  to  bring  souls  into  Paradise.  The 
lords  of  those  territories  in  the  country  of  Veragua,  so  I  am 
told,  bury  the  gold  they  own  in  their  graves  when  they  die. 
Solomon  brought  from  a  single  voyage  666  hundredweight  of 
gold,  besides  what  the  merchants  and  sailors  had,  and  besides 
what  was  paid  in  Arabia.  From  this  gold  he  made  200  spears 
and  300  shields,  and  he  made  the  panels  which  were  above 
them  of  gold  adorned  with  precious  stones,  and  made  many 
other  things  of  gold,  such  as  large  vases  richly  set  with  pre 
cious  stones.  Josephus  writes  this  in  his  i  Antiquities.'  In  the 
Paralipomenon  and  in  the  Book  of  Kings  it  is  also  recounted. 
Josephus  thinks  that  this  gold  was  obtained  in  the  Aurea.  If 
this  were  true,  I  maintain  that  those  mines  of  the  Aurea  are 
one  with  and  correspond  to  those  of  Veragua ;  which,  as  I  have 
above  said,  extend  twenty  days'  travel  toward  the  west  and  are  at 
an  equal  distance  from  the  Pole  and  the  Equator.  Solomon 
bought  all  that  gold,  silver,  and  gems,  but  there  you  may  send 
and  gather  it  if  you  so  choose.  David  in  his  will  left  to  Solomon 
3000  hundredweight  of  gold  from  the  Indies,  to  aid  in  building 
the  Temple,  and  according  to  Josephus  it  came  from  these  same 
countries.  Jerusalem  and  Mt.  Zion  are  to  be  restored  by  the 
hand  of  Christians :  who  they  are  to  be  God,  by  the  mouth  of 
his  prophet,  in  the  I4th  Psalm  declares.  The  Abbot  Joaquim 
said  that  this  work  was  to  issue  from  Spain.  St.  Jerome  dis 
closed  to  the  Holy  Woman  the  way  thither.  Years  ago  the 
Emperor  of  Cathay  sent  for  wise  men  to  teach  him  the  faith  of 
Christ.  Who  is  it  that  shall  offer  himself  for  this  enterprise? 
If  Our  Lord  conducts  me  to  Spain,  I  bind  myself  to  take  such  an 
one  to  him,  together  with  the  word  of  God,  in  safety." 

We  may  smile  at  the  geographical  speculations  of  the 
writer,  and  shrug  our  shoulders  at  his  crusading  schemes, 
but  we  cannot  deny  the  earnestness  of  his  convictions. 
There  is  not  a  single  word  in  his  argument  which  denotes 
a  selfish  purpose.  The  next  sentence  would  do  honor  to 
any  hero  of  African  or  Arctic  exploration :  — 

"  These  people  who  have  come  with  me  have  passed  through 
incredible  perils  and  labors.  I  entreat  your  Majesties,  because 
they  are  poor,  that  you  cause  them  to  be  paid  at  once  and  give 
some  reward  to  each  one  according  to  his  rank ;  for  in  my  belief 
they  bear  the  best  news  which  has  ever  entered  Spain." 


THE    GREATEST  PERIL    OF  ALL.  481 

His  own  avaricious  and  grasping  nature  is  shown  in  the 
demands  made  for  himself :  — 

"  If  it  pleases  your  Majesties  to  graciously  send  me  the  assist 
ance  of  a  ship  which  exceeds  64  tons  burthen,  with  200  hun 
dredweight  of  biscuit  and  some  other  provisions,  it  will  be 
sufficient  to  carry  me  and  these  people  to  Spain  from  Hispaniola." 

Even  in  his  dire  extremity  he  remembers  his  master's 
orders  about  touching  at  San  Domingo,  and  repeats  his 
intention  to  respect  them :  — 

"  I  have  already  said  that  there  are  not  28  leagues  distance 
between  Jamaica  and  Hispaniola.  Not  if  the  ships  were  in  con 
dition  to  make  the  voyage  would  I  go  there.  I  have  already  said 
that  I  was  ordered,  in  the  name  of  your  Majesties,  not  to  land 
there.  Whether  this  action  has  done  any  good,  God  only  knows." 

It  is  only  at  the  end  of  his  letter  —  which,  not  unnaturally, 
is  far  from  being  a  model  of  methodical  composition  —  that 
he  makes  a  personal  plea.  Touching  upon  his  long  and 
laborious  services,  his  cruel  degradation  and  spoliation, 
and  the  lying  accusations  brought  against  him  by  jealous 
enemies,  he  pleads  for  the  restoration  of  his  honors,  so 
often  and  solemnly  promised,  and  for  righteous  punish 
ment  upon  those  who  have  wronged  and  robbed  him. 

"  The  honest  purpose  I  have  ever  cherished  in  serving  your 
Majesties  and  the  unparalleled  wrongs  done  me  do  not  permit 
my  spirit  to  be  silent,  much  as  I  desire  it :  I  beg  that  your 
Majesties  will  pardon  me.  For  myself,  I  am  lost,  as  I  have 
said.  Heretofore  I  have  grieved  for  others ;  may  Heaven  now 
have  pity  upon  me  and  the  Earth  weep  for  me.  In  worldly 
matters  I  have  not  now  a  single  maravedi  for  an  alms  ;  in  spirit 
ual,  I  am  imprisoned  here  in  the  Indies  in  the  situation  described, 
—  exiled  upon  this  rock,  broken  in  health,  looking  daily  for 
death,  surrounded  by  innumerable,  cruel,  and  hostile  savages, 
and  so  cut  off  from  the  holy  sacraments  of  our  holy  Church  that 
this  soul  will  be  forgotten  if  it  takes  leave  of  the  body  here. 
Whoever  possesses  charity,  truth,  and  justice,  weep  for  me  !  I 
did  not  come  on  this  voyage  to  navigate  in  order  to  win  honor 
and  riches ;  that  is  certain,  for  the  hope  of  all  that  was  already 
dead  within  me.  I  came  to  serve  your  Majesties  with  honest 
purpose  and  hearty  zeal,  and  I  do  not  lie.  I  humbly  request 
your  Majesties  that,  if  it  should  please  God  to  rescue  me  from 


482        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL, 

here,  you  may  permit  me  to  go  to  Rome  and  other  pilgrimages ; 
—  Whose  life  and  eminent  estate  may  the  Holy  Trinity  protect 
and  increase.  Dated  in  the  Indies,  on  the  Island  of  Jamaica, 
the  7th  of  July,  1503."" 

Such  was  the  ending  of  the  last  letter  which  the  Admiral 
wrote  to  his  sovereigns  from  the  New  World.  He  thought 
it  likely  that  it  would  be  the  last  time  he  should  address 
them  in  life.  The  chances  of  his  surviving  until  some 
relief  arrived  were  of  the  remotest,  even  should  Mendez 
succeed  in  reaching  Ovando;  in  the  event  of  his  failure,  the 
Admiral  and  many  a  man  among  his  following  were  likely 
to  find  their  resting  place  beneath  the  dark  shades  of  the 
jungle  fringing  Santa  Gloria  Bay. 

Mendez,  with  a  single  comrade  and  their  oarsmen, 
pluckily  set  out  in  his  frail  craft  along  the  coast.  On  the 
way  he  was  attacked  by  a  party  of  Indian  sea-rovers,  but 
escaped  capture  and  reached  the  eastern  end  of  the  island 
in  safety.  There,  the  wind  being  for  the  moment  unfav 
orable,  he  left  the  canoe  and  went  on  foot  some  distance 
away  to  reconnoitre.  Falling  in  with  a  party  of  natives, 
they  took  him  prisoner  and  forthwith  proceeded  to  play 
some  game,  with  him  as  its  prize.  While  they  were  thus 
engaged  he  slipped  away,  regained  his  canoe,  and  started 
back  to  Santa  Gloria.  It  was  clear  that  he  must  have  pro 
tection  in  getting  away  from  Jamaica.  He  reached  the 
caravels  about  a  fortnight  after  leaving  them  and  reported 
his  adventures.  At  the  same  time  he  announced  his  entire 
readiness  to  repeat  the  effort.  The  Admiral  thereupon 
selected  Bartolome"  de  Fiesco,  a  Genoese  of  rank  and  his 
own  kinsman,  who  had  commanded  the  abandoned  "Viz- 
caina,"  to  join  Mendez  in  a  second  attempt.  Each  of  the 
messengers  was  to  have  a  canoe  manned  by  ten  Indian  pad- 
dlers.  In  the  event  of  their  attaining  Hispaniola,  Fiesco  was 
to  return  to  the  Admiral  with  Ovando's  reply,  and  Mendez 
was  to  sail  to  Spain  by  the  first  conveyance  with  the  letters  and 
despatches.  Don  Bartholomew  was  asked  to  march  along 
the  coast  with  sixty  men  as  an  escort  for  the  canoes,  and  to 
remain  at  the  end  of  the  island  until  they  were  well  on  their 
way  towards  Hispaniola.  Both  parties  reached  the  eastern 


THE    GREATEST  PERIL    OF  ALL.  483 

extremity  of  Jamaica  without  molestation,  and,  after  wait 
ing  three  or  four  days  for  a  smooth  sea,  the  canoes  put  out 
on  their  hazardous  transit.  The  land  force  waited  for  three 
days  to  receive  them  if  any  disaster  drove  them  back,  and 
then  retraced  their  way  to  the  ships  and  reported  the  ap 
parently  successful  issue  of  the  undertaking.  Mendez  and 
Fiesco  did,  in  fact,  succeed  in  making  the  passage  and  land 
ing  somewhere  in  the  long  and  narrow  promontory  which 
juts  out  from  the  southwestern  shores  of  Hayti,  but  they 
narrowly  missed  destruction.  The  sea  had  been  calm,  in 
deed,  during  their  voyage;  but  five  days  had  been  required 
to  make  it  instead  of  one-half  that  time  as  they  had  ex 
pected.  Their  water  and  provisions  had  given  out  on  the 
third  day,  and  the  native  paddlers,  exhausted  with  such 
prolonged  exertion,  had  quickly  succumbed  to  thirst  and 
hunger.  Only  the  accidental  sighting  of  the  lonely  rocks 
of  Navassa,1  outlined  against  the  rising  moon  on  the  fourth 
night  of  their  passage,  saved  the  lives  of  all.  Had  they 
been  in  any  other  position  at  the  moment,  they  must  have 
passed  by  the  islet  in  the  darkness;  as  it  was,  they  found 
enough  rain-water  in  the  hollows  of  its  rocky  surface,  and 
shell-fish  on  its  shore,  to  allay  their  sufferings,  and  provide 
them  for  the  remainder  of  their  journey.  From  Cape  Tibu- 
ron  the  messengers  started  alongshore  for  San  Domingo,  but 
learning  on  the  way  that  Ovando  was  in  Xaragua,  near  their 
first  landing,  Mendez  started  over  land  to  join  him,  while 
Fiesco  continued  on  the  seat  of  government.  So  far  as 
their  loyal  endeavor  could,  the  relief  of  their  commander 
and  comrades  at  Santa  Gloria  was  now  assured. 

Meantime  the  forlorn  settlement  at  Santa  Gloria  Bay  had 
assumed  an  air  of  semi-permanence,  as  if  in  grim  determina 
tion  to  await  the  worst  with  resolution.  The  "  Santiago  " 
had,  as  early  as  the  23rd  of  July,  been  run  up  on  the  beach, 
and  allowed  to  settle  into  her  final  berth  in  the  sands.  On 

1  This  little  island,  now  somewhat  noted  for  its  guano  deposit,  lies 
about  forty  miles  west  of  Hayti,  and  was  declared  by  proclamation  of  the 
President  to  be  United  States  territory  in  1891.  It  is,  therefore,  the 
only  portion  of  our  national  domain  which  is  directly  connected  with 
the  voyages  and  discoveries  of  Columbus. 


484        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL, 

the  1 2th  of  August  the  flagship  was  warped  alongside  her, 
beams  laid  across  both  decks,  and  cabins  after  the  native 
fashion  built  on  the  platform  thus  provided.  By  this  means 
the  Admiral  secured  sufficient  accommodation  for  his  men 
without  risking  the  complications  sure  to  result  from  their 
residence  among  the  natives  on  shore,  while  obtaining  a 
slight  advantage  of  position  in  the  event  of  any  hostile 
demonstration  by  the  Indians.  One  danger  was  ever  present 
to  his  mind  —  the  ease  with  which  his  palm-thatched  and 
reed-walled  cabins  might  be  fired,  and  with  them  so  much 
of  his  wretched  hulks  as  were  above  water  —  but  this  would 
have  been  an  equal  menace  had  he  built  cabins  on  shore. 
In  these  narrow  quarters,  with  the  floods  of  heaven  pouring 
from  above  and  the  waters  of  the  bay  washing  about  the 
wooden  caverns  beneath  their  feet,  the  Spaniards  passed  the 
dreary  months  of  the  rainy  season.  The  Admiral's  illness 
kept  him  a  constant  prisoner  on  his  pallet;  for  months  he 
was  unable  to  walk  across  his  own  cabin.  The  men,  left  to 
their  own  devices,  spent  their  time  when  on  board  in  growl 
ing  at  the  leaders  who  had  brought  them  to  such  a  pass,  and 
when  on  shore  in  amusing  themselves  at  the  expense  of  the 
long-suffering  and  overawed  natives.  Under  the  insidious 
provocation  of  the  Porras  brothers, —  Francisco,  the  captain 
of  the  "Santiago,"  and  Diego,  the  royal  comptroller, — 
ably  seconded  by  Master  Bernal,  the  fleet  apothecary,  their 
grumbling  gradually  took  the  shape  of  a  definitely  planned 
mutiny.  All  the  old  stories  of  the  Admiral's  disfavor  at 
Court  were  revived,  and  augmented  by  hints  that  Mendez 
and  Fiesco  had,  in  reality,  merely  gone  to  attend  to  his 
private  interests,  without  a  thought  of  securing  aid  for  their 
shipwrecked  comrades.  This  leaven  worked  as  it  was  in 
tended,  until,  on  the  day  after  New  Year's,  1504,  Fran 
cisco  Porras  gathered  together  forty-eight  discontents,  and 
boldly  entered  the  Admiral's  cabin. 

"It  appears  to  us,  Senor,"  he  announced,  "that  you  have 
no  desire  to  take  us  to  Spain,  but  intend  to  keep  us  here  in 
abandonment." 

Taken  by  surprise  by  such  an  outbreak,  the  Admiral's 
first  impulse  was  to  conciliate  as  far  as  possible  the  malcon- 


THE    GREATEST  PERIL    OF  ALL,  485 

tents.  Dwelling  on  the  obvious  impossibility  of  doing 
anything  until  relief  should  arrive  in  response  to  the  appeals 
sent  by  Mendez  and  Fiesco,  he  pointed  out  that  his  own 
desire  to  escape  must  necessarily  be  greater  than  that  of 
any  one  else,  both  from  motives  of  interest  and  because  of 
his  immense  responsibility  for  those  with  him.  He  reminded 
them  that  he  had  discussed  all  possible  remedies  with  them 
selves,  and  followed  the  course  which  seemed  to  all  the  best, 
and  added  that  if  they  had  anything  else  to  propose  he  would 
gladly  hear  them  now.  To  this  Porras  defiantly  answered 
that  there  had  been  too  much  talking  already;  either  the 
Admiral  would  set  out  at  once  with  them  for  Spain,  or  he 
would  stay  where  he  was.  Turning  his  back  upon  his  bed 
ridden  commander  he  shouted  to  his  associates :  "  For  my 
part,  I  am  bound  for  Castile  with  all  who  want  to  go  with 
me !  "  In  a  moment  the  ships  rang  with  cries  of  "  I  am 
with  you,"  "and  I,"  "and  I,"  while  the  mutineers,  arms  in 
hand,  quickly  took  positions  commanding  the  decks  and 
their  houses.  Some  of  the  more  reckless  were  for  ending 
the  careers  of  the  Admiral  and  Don  Bartholomew  then  and 
there,  but  beyond  such  menacing  shouts  no  personal  affront 
was  offered.  Hearing  the  uproar,  the  Admiral  rose  from 
bed  and  staggered  towards  the  door  leading  out  on  deck. 
If  some  of  his  attendants  had  not  caught  him  and  led  him 
back  to  his  couch  he  would  have  fallen,  so  weak  he  was.  At 
the  same  moment  Don  Bartholomew  had  grasped  a  lance, 
and  started  to  settle  the  account  single-handed  with  the 
mutineers;  but  he,  too,  was  restrained  by  the  loyal  by 
standers,  and  forced  into  his  brother's  cabin.  This  done, 
some  of  the  Admiral's  adherents  entered  into  a  parley  with 
Porras.  Nothing  would  be  gained  by  murder,  they  argued; 
the  death  of  a  man  of  the  Admiral's  rank  would  inevitably 
be  visited  on  the  conspirators,  be  they  where  they  might. 
If  they  wanted  to  make  the  effort  to  reach  Hispaniola  them 
selves,  let  them  go  their  ways,  and  the  Admiral  and  his 
followers  would  remain  where  they  were.  After  much  talk 
backwards  and  forwards,  Porras  agreed  to  this.  That  same 
day,  taking  ten  canoes,  he  started  off  eastward  with  his 
companions.  It  is  not  without  a  certain  feeling  of  regret 


486        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF  THE  ADMIRAL. 

that  one  sees  the  name  of  Pedro  de  Ledesma  among  the 
deserters;  but  in  this  case  neither  his  courage  nor  his  skill 
as  navigator  availed  them.  They  reached  the  end  of  the 
island  and  put  off  for  Hispaniola,  having  impressed  the 
needful  number  of  Indians  to  paddle  them  across.  A  light 
gale  which  sprang  up  threatened  to  swamp  their  cranky 
crafts  soon  after  leaving  shore.  To  ease  them,  the  Spaniards 
pitched  overboard  all  the  native  paddlers,  and  hacked  off 
their  hands  when  the  poor  wretches  strove  to  get  breath  by 
holding  on  to  the  gunwales.  Not  daring  to  make  the  long 
traverse  alone,  they  put  back  to  the  Jamaican  coast.  Here 
a  month  was  passed  in  fruitless  debate.  Some  wanted  to 
make  the  effort  to  reach  Cuba;  others,  to  make  another 
attempt  for  Hispaniola;  others,  to  go  back  and  make  peace 
with  the  Admiral;  and  others  still,  to  attack  him  on  the  car 
avels  and  possess  themselves  of  the  arms  and  merchandise. 
Finally,  in  the  absence  of  any  definite  plan,  they  began  to 
raid  at  their  leisure  among  the  native  villages.  It  was  pre 
ferable  to  being  cooped  up  on  the  stranded  caravels  under 
the  orders  of  the  Admiral,  at  all  events. 

With  the  little  colony  at  Santa  Gloria  the  monotonous 
months  dragged  wearily  along.  There  had  been  little  expec 
tation  of  hearing  anything  from  Hispaniola  before  the  close 
of  the  year,  1503;  but  with  the  new  year  the  Admiral  and 
those  who  remained  with  him  looked  daily  for  the  sails  of 
the  relieving  caravel.  As  the  rains  grew  less  violent  and 
frequent,  and  the  bright  weather  marked  the  change  of 
season,  the  exiled  explorers  began  to  lose  heart.  Their 
long  confinement  under  such  depressing  influences  told  upon 
their  health,  the  Indians  began  to  be  indifferent  in  supply 
ing  provisions,  and  the  feeblest  among  the  Spaniards  suc 
cumbed.  By  March  there  were  half  a  dozen  graves  to  bear 
witness  to  the  ravages  of  fever  and  privation,  and  each  month 
now  was  adding  to  the  number.  The  Admiral  obtained  a 
renewal  of  activity  in  the  commissariat,  by  calling  the 
Indian  caciques  together,  in  advance  of  a  lunar  eclipse, 
and  warning  them  that  the  Almighty  would  darken  the  face 
of  the  moon  if  they  failed  to  help  the  Christians.  The 
occurrence  of  the  predicted  miracle  at  the  time  specified, 


THE    GREATEST  PERIL    OF  ALL.  487 

February  the  i  yth,  easily  convinced  the  superstitious  natives 
that  the  white  leader  was  a  great  medicine  man,  and  per 
ceptibly  increased  their  activity  in  furnishing  his  people 
with  food.  But  the  absorbing  question  with  the  Spaniards 
was  not  so  much  the  supplying  of  their  needs  in  their 
present  quarters  as  some  indication  of  their  being  able  to 
abandon  them  altogether.  A  rumor  which  was  passed  by 
the  Indians  across  the  island  from  its  southern  coast,  to  the 
effect  that  a  vessel  like  those  of  the  Spaniards  had  been  seen 
drifting,  helpless  and  abandoned,  among  the  strong  currents 
which  swept  those  lower  shores,  excited  much  gloomy  dis 
cussion  on  the  land-bound  caravels.  A  few  claimed  that 
the  report  had  been  originated  by  Porras  in  order  to  detach 
more  of  the  Admiral's  following  by  destroying  their  last 
hopes  of  relief;  but  most  of  the  Spaniards  were  disposed  to 
accept  it  as  furnishing  a  solution,  however  unwelcome,  of 
the  long  absence  of  news  from  Diego  Mendez.  By  June 
this  belief  had  gained  such  ground  that  Bernal,  the  apothe 
cary,  and  a  couple  of  kindred  spirits,  had  succeeded  in 
inducing  quite  a  number  of  the  Admiral's  men  to  agree  to 
desert  him  and  join  Porras.  His  health,  they  argued,  was 
such  as  to  prohibit  him  from  being  moved,  and  it  was  pre 
posterous  to  expect  them  all  to  stay  in  that  unknown  corner 
until  they  were  carried  off  by  the  fevers,  merely  because 
their  commander  was  a  doomed  man.  Let  those  who  still 
held  to  the  dream  of  help  arriving  from  Hispaniola  stay 
where  they  were;  the  men  of  spirit  would  join  Porras  and 
his  merry  men  in  their  roving  life  among  the  forests  and 
mountains  of  the  interior. 

Had  they  but  known  it,  their  former  comrade  had  labored 
unceasingly  during  seven  long  months  to  move  Ovando  to 
despatch  assistance  to  them  and  their  leader.  As  soon  as 
he  reached  Xaragua,  after  leaving  Fiesco,  Mendez  had  laid 
the  Admiral's  situation  before  the  governor,  and  implored 
him  to  send  the  needed  aid  to  his  colleague  and  fellow 
countrymen.  For  just  so  long  did  Ovando  postpone  lifting 
a  finger  to  help  the  Admiral.  The  brief  report  made  by 
Mendez  of  this  prolonged  inaction  is  too  naive  to  be  omitted, 
especially  as  it  affords  an  opportunity  of  comparing  the  new 


488        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

governor's  reputedly  gentle  methods  of  administration  with 
the  much-criticised  harshness  of  the  first  Viceroy. 

"He  kept  me  there  seven  months/1  wrote  Mendez,  wholly 
innocent  of  any  irony,  "until  he  had  finished  hanging  and 
burning  88  caciques,  all  of  them  lords  over  vassals ;  and  among 
them  Anacaona,  the  greatest  chieftainess  of  the  island,  whom 
all  the  others  obeyed  and  served.  When  this  was  ended  I  came 
on  foot  to  San  Domingo,  which  was  70  leagues  distant,  and 
waited  there,  expecting  vessels  to  arrive  from  Spain,  for  none 
had  come  thence  in  more  than  a  year.  While  this  comedy  was 
performing,  it  pleased  God  that  three  ships  arrived,  of  which  I 
bought  one  and  loaded  her  with  supplies  of  bread,  wine,  meat, 
swine,  sheep,  and  dried  fruits  and  sent  her  to  where  the  Admiral 
was  with  his  people." 

But  before  Mendez  was  able  to  secure  this  vessel,  Ovando 
himself   acted.      One  afternoon   in   March,— just  before 
Bernal  and  his  fresh  batch  of  deserters  were  ready  to  aban 
don  their  companions, — a  large  caravel  appeared  off  the 
entrance  of   Santa  Gloria  Bay.     To  the  Admiral  and  his 
distressed  associates  she  was,  of  course,  the  long-expected 
succor  sent  by  Diego  Mendez.     Even  when  she  came  to,  at 
some  distance  from  their  stranded  hulks,  and  put  off  a  boat, 
they  suffered  no  diminution  of  their  joy,  for  this  was  doubt 
less  due  to  ignorance  of  the  soundings.    But  when  this  boat 
drew  near  enough  for  her  occupants  to  be  distinguished, 
and  the  Admiral  saw  in  her  stern-sheets  the  figure  of  Diego 
de  Escobar,  whom  he  had  condemned  to  death  at  the  time . 
of  Roldan's  rebellion,  he  began  to  fear  some  new  complica 
tion.    Nor  was  he  mistaken.    Escobar  came  near  enough  to 
the  Admiral's  queer  craft  to  throw  a  letter  on  her  deck,  and 
then  rowed  off  some  distance  and  lay  on  his  oars.     From 
there  he  shouted  a  message  from  his  master  to  the  Admiral : 
The  governor  greatly  sympathized  with  him  in  his  trials,  and 
sent  him  a  barrel  of  wine  and  a  side  of  bacon  with  his  kind 
regards;  just  at  the  moment  he  could  do  no  more,  and  he 
begged  the  Admiral  to  excuse  his  apparent  neglect  until  he 
was  able  to  send  a  vessel  to  bring  the  whole  party  to  San 
Domingo!     At  this  distance  a  conversation  followed  be 
tween  Escobar  and  the  Admiral  in  which  the  former  re- 


THE    GREATEST  PERIL    OF  ALL.  489 

counted  the  latest  news  from  Hispaniola,  and  assured  his 
hearer  that  Ovando  was  paying  especial  heed  to  the  Ad 
miral's  interests  and  had  accumulated  a  large  fund  as  his 
share  of  the  island's  revenue.  What  the  real  motive  of 
Ovando  was  in  this  extraordinary  performance  has  never 
been  satisfactorily  explained.  The  Admiral's  friends  ac 
cuse  the  governor  of  wishing  merely  to  ascertain  his  real 
condition,  and  then  abandon  him  to  the  death  which  was 
sure  to  come  before  long,  and  consider  that  Escobar  was  only 
carrying  out  a  pre-arranged  farce  to  quiet  his  victim's  appre 
hensions.  The  more  commonly  received  opinion  is  that 
Ovando  feared  to  take  the  Admiral  to  San  Domingo  lest 
he  should  stir  up  dissension,  and  hand  over  the  control  of 
the  Indies  to  Genoa  or  some  other  power.  The  persistence 
with  which  this  last  fable  obtained  in  Court  circles  during 
the  Admiral's  lifetime,  doubtless  had  its  origin  in  his  natural 
intimacy  with  the  Genoese  resident  in  Spain,  and  his  known 
correspondence  with  the  Seignory  of  that  commonwealth; 
but  his  repeated  and  logical  denials  leave  no  possible  doubt 
as  to  its  utter  falsity.  This  seems,  however,  to  have  been 
his  own  interpretation  of  Ovando 's  unchivalric  conduct,  for 
in  the  reply  he  sent  to  the  governor's  message  he  wrote :  - 

"  I  beg  you  once  more  as  a  favor,  Sefior,  that  you  may  be 
satisfied  regarding  me  and  may  rest  assured  that  I  am  loyal.  I 
ask  you  also,  in  your  kindness,  to  receive  becomingly  Diego 
Mendez  my  messenger,  and  Fiesco,  —  who,  as  you  know,  is  a 
man  of  high  rank  in  his  own  country  and  who  is  so  closely  con 
nected  with  myself,  —  and  believe  that  they  did  not  go  to  His 
paniola  with  ulterior  aims,  but  only  to  inform  you,  Senor,  of  the 
imminent  peril  in  which  I  then  was  and  in  which  I  continue  at 
the  present  day.  I  am  still  lodged  on  the  vessels  which  are 
stranded  here,  awaiting  the  assistance  of  God  and  yourself,  for 
which  my  remote  descendants  will  always  bear  a  grateful  remem 
brance.'' 

Unless  we  are  prepared  to  believe  that  Ovando  was  a 
deliberate  monster,  we  must  suppose  that  he  was  genuinely 
afraid  of  the  results  of  the  Admiral's  presence  at  San  Do 
mingo,  and  hence  referred  the  whole  matter  to  Spain  for 
solution.  Only  thus  can  we  account  for  the  excessive  dila- 


490        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

toriness  with  which  he  acted.     Some  definite  promise  was 
indeed  contained  in  the  letter  he  sent  to  Columbus,  for  the 
latter  in  his  reply  thanks  the  governor  with  evident  sincerity. 
"  I  have  this  moment  received  your  letter,  all  of  which  I  have 
read  with  great  joy.     Paper  and  pens  would  not  suffice  to 
write  the  comfort  and  courage  which  I  and  all  these  people 
with  me  have  derived  from  it."    At  the  same  time  the  tone 
of  the  reply  taken  in  its  entirety  is  that  of  a  man  who  is 
doubtful  of  its  effect.     "I  am  not  smooth  of  speech,"  the 
Admiral  writes,   "rather  am  I  considered  abrupt;  but  the 
event,  if  it  should  occur,  will  show  for  itself."    He  recounts 
at  length  the  chief  incidents  of  his  voyage,   his  existing 
straits,  and  renews  his  thanks  for  the  hope  of  future  aid 
held  out  by  Ovando,  and  for  the  gratifying  intelligence  con 
cerning  his  personal  estate  brought  by  Escobar.     "  I  con 
clude  by  repeating  that  my  faith  has  always  been  and  is, 
Senor,  that  for  my  rescue  you  would  venture  even  your  own 
safety.     I  am  so  sure  of  this  that  all  my  senses  concur  in 
the  belief."     That  Columbus  had  any  such  faith    in   the 
governor  of  Hispaniola  would  be  incredible,  were  it  not 
that  a  childish  and  irrational  confidence  in  the  sincerity  of 
princes  and  cavaliers  was  the  weakest  point  in  his  nature. 
His  subsequent  conduct  indicates  that  he  really  did  believe 
in  the  integrity  of  Ovando's  intentions,  and  in  the  letter 
here   quoted    he    sends   an    extract  from   their  Majesties' 
instructions  for  this  voyage,  wherein  they  reiterate    their 
purpose  to  respect  all  his  rights  and  chartered  dignities. 
"With  or  without  this,"  he  wrote,  "ever  since  I  began  to 
serve  them,  I  never  harbored  the  thought  of  anything  else." 
In  his  own  transparent  loyalty  he  supposed  that  Ovando  and 
every  one  else  must  necessarily  be  guided  by  equally  single 
motives.    What  object  could  any  one  have  in  being  disloyal 
to  princes  who  so  generously  and  solemnly  guaranteed  his 
rights?    The  argument,  he  fancied,  would  be  conclusive  to 
Ovando. 

Escobar  waited  only  long  enough  to  receive  the  Admiral's 
letter  and  then  returned  to  his  caravel  and  hoisted  sail. 
Before  darkness  fell  he  had  passed  out  of  sight.  His  short 
stay  and  singular  deportment  naturally  caused  a  profound 


THE   GREATEST  PERIL    OF  ALL.  491 

reaction  among  the  little  community  on  the  twin  hulks. 
Where  all  had  been  feverish  joy  in  the  afternoon,  all  was 
black  despair  at  night.  To  them  the  departure  of  Escobar 
meant  nothing  less  than  the  formal  and  official  abandon 
ment  of  them  by  Ovando.  It  was  not  without  difficulty  that 
they  were  persuaded  to  agree  that  the  certainty  of  Mendez's 
arrival  in  Hispaniola  and  the  assurances  of  the  governor's 
ultimate  assistance  were  causes  for  congratulation  and  con 
fidence,  but  this  hopeful  view  finally  prevailed  and  all  set 
tled  down  to  wait  patiently  for  the  now  assured  relief.  The 
Admiral  even  thought  the  occasion  was  opportune  for  win 
ning  back  the  Porras  faction,  and  sent  messengers  to  inform 
them  of  the  word  brought  by  the  caravel,  and  to  offer  them 
free  pardon  if  they  would  return  to  their  allegiance.  His 
overtures  were  received  as  a  confession  of  weakness  and 
answered  with  a  list  of  counter-propositions.  It  was  the 
dreary  comedy  of  Roldan  reenacted  among  the  forests  of 
Jamaica,  and  most  of  the  deserters'  confidence  was  based 
upon  the  success  which  had  attended  Roldan' s  tactics. 
They  overlooked  the  fact  that  the  Admiral's  hands  were  not 
tied  on  a  savage  island  by  the  complications  which  fettered 
the  Viceroy  in  an  established  colony  of  the  Crown.  Rely 
ing  on  their  own  strength,  the  feebleness  of  the  Admiral's 
followers, —  most  of  whom  were  known  to  be  reduced  by 
their  long  confinement, —  and  the  existence  of  sympathizers 
on  the  ships,  the  mutineers  discussed  the  advisability  of 
seizing  the  Admiral,  his  son,  and  Don  Bartholomew,  and 
then  treating  with  Ovando  on  their  own  terms.  They  seem 
to  have  imagined  that  their  action  might  be  even  deemed 
meritorious  in  certain  influential  quarters. 

On  learning  their  plans  the  Admiral  sent  Don  Bartholo 
mew  with  fifty  of  his  most  trusted  adherents  to  meet  them. 
To  renewed  offers  of  pardon  Porras  replied  with  contemptu 
ous  rejection,  and  almost  immediately  attacked  the  Adelan- 
tado's  company  with  a  furious  onslaught.  But  the  fevers 
of  Santa  Gloria  had  not  affected  the  courage  of  the  Admiral's 
men,  and  their  resistance  was  as  obstinate  as  the  attack.  As 
pretty  a  fight  ensued  as  the  New  World  ever  saw,  common 
as  such  desperate  affrays  became  in  later  years.  Porras  and 


492        THE  LAS T    VOYAGES   OF   THE   ADMIRAL. 

five  of  his  comrades  beset  Don  Bartholomew  together  and 
he  at  once  became  the  centre  of  the  battle.  With  a  terrific 
blow  the  rebel  leader  cut  through  the  Adelantado's  shield 
to  the  handpiece  underneath;  but  there  his  sword  stuck,  and, 
before  it  could  be  released,  he  was  overpowered  and  captured. 
Pedro  de  Ledesma  fell,  only  after  receiving  eight  ghastly 
wounds  which  cut  off  his  fingers,  dislocated  his  sword  arm, 
laid  open  his  skull,  severed  the  muscles  of  one  leg,  and 
divided  one  foot  from  heel  to  toes.  Juan  Sanchez,  the 
luckless  guardian  of  the  Veraguan  Quebi,  and  Juan  Barba, 
who  was  the  first  to  draw  his  sword  against  the  bedridden 
Admiral  on  the  2nd  of  January,  were  more  easily  killed. 
Two  or  three  more  of  the  deserters  came  to  a  like  end,1 
while  many  of  them  were  wounded.  Of  Don  Bartholomew's 
party  only  one,  Pedro  de  Terreros,  the  loyal  captain  of  the 
"Gallego,"  lost  his  life,  and  the  Adelantado  alone  was 
wounded.  Violent  as  the  fighting  was  it  was  soon  over, 
and  the  victors  returned  to  the  ships  with  Porras  and  other 
prisoners,  while  the  vanquished  fled  to  the  woods  with  their 
wounded.  In  a  couple  of  days  they  sent  a  messenger  to 
announce  their  desire  to  surrender  unconditionally.  The 
Admiral  at  once  accepted  their  proposal,  and  tjie  survivors 
soon  reached  the  ships.  Their  only  punishment  was  an 
oath  on  crucifix  and  mass-book  exacted  from  them,  wherein 
they  condemned  themselves  to  merited  death  in  this  world 
and  eternal  damnation  in  the  next,  if  they  again  violated 
their  allegiance.  It  is  a  significant  commentary  upon  the 
Admiral's  reputed  cruelty  that  when  he  learned  from  the 
Indians  that  Pedro  de  Ledesma,  who  had  been  left  for  dead 
by  friend  and  enemy,  was  still  alive  on  the  battle  field,  he 
sent  his  surgeon  with  a  party  to  bring  him  to  the  ships  for 
treatment.  And  it  is  no  less  illustrative  of  the  surgical  art 
of  those  days  that,  for  want  of  other  means  of  cautery,  the 
worthy  physician  poured  oil  on  the  valiant  pilot's  horrid 
wounds  and  then  set  it  on  fire !  Notwithstanding  which 

1  It  is  amusing  to  see  the  ingenuity  with  which  Diego  Porras,  whose 
duty  it  was  as  comptroller  to  make  a  return  of  the  crews  upon  reaching 
Spain,  distributes  these  deaths  over  a  number  of  days,  as  though  due 
to  climatic  or  other  natural  causes. 


THE    GREATEST  PERIL    OF  ALL.  493 

heroic  measures  Ledesma  lived  to  bear  false  witness  against 
his  dead  commander  nine  years  later. 

This  battle  —  called  of  Mayma,  from  the  Indian  name  of 
the  place  where  it  occurred  —  was  fought  on  the  igth  of 
May.  Towards  the  end  of  June  all  discontent  and  doubts 
were  set  at  rest  by  the  appearance  in  the  offing  of  two  car 
avels.  They  proved  to  be  the  vessel  bought  and  fitted  out 
by  Mendez,  which  was  under  the  command  of  Diego  de 
Salcedo,  the  Admiral's  agent  at  San  Domingo,  and  a  smaller 
craft  sent  by  Ovando  for  form's  sake.  Las  Casas,  who  had 
personal  knowledge  of  the  facts,  says  that  the  governor  was 
compelled  by  the  public  outcry  which  followed  Escobar's 
return  without  the  Admiral,  to  at  least  feign  a  disposition 
to  help  his  shipwrecked  colleague.  For  the  moment,  the 
latter  cared  little  as  to  this;  it  was  enough  that  he  and  his 
men  were  at  last  freed  from  their  long  exile.  The  prepara 
tions  for  departure  were  soon  made,  and  on  the  28th  of 
June  the  two  relief  ships  stood  out  of  Santa  Gloria  Bay 
bound  for  San  Domingo,  and  the  only  vestiges  of  the 
Spaniards'  occupation  of  Jamaica  were  the  double-hulled 
ark  near  the  beach  and  the  graves  in  the  neighboring 
forest. 

Salcedo  had  much  to  tell  the  Admiral,  and  did  not  lack 
for  leisure  in  which  to  inform  him  thoroughly  of  all  that 
had  passed  since  he  touched  at  Hispaniola  two  years  before. 
The  easterly  winds  and  currents  contested,  as  usual,  the 
eastward  course  of  the  ships,  and  it  was  not  until  the  3rd  of 
August  that  they  reached  the  island  of  Beata,  on  the  south 
ern  coast  of  Hispaniola.  From  here  the  Admiral  sent  a 
letter  to  Ovando,  announcing  his  arrival  and  thanking  him 
for  his  assistance.  In  it  he  recurs  to  the  suspicions  which, 
his  agent  told  him,  were  still  rife  in  the  governor's  circle. 

"  Every  effort  has  been  made,"  he  repeats,  "  to  kill  once  and 
for  all  the  suspicion  with  which  I  am  regarded,  but  Diego  de 
Salcedo  is  still  disturbed  on  this  account.  Occasion  for  this  fear 
I  know  could  neither  have  been  seen  nor  heard,  for  my  purpose 
is  absolutely  honest,  and  therefore  I  am  surprised.  I  was  as 
much  gratified  to  see  the  signature  of  your  last  letter  as  though 
it  were  that  of  Don  Diego  or  Don  Fernando,  my  sons.'' 


494        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

Notwithstanding  this  emphatic  denial,  the  governor 
maintained  his  attitude  of  mental  quarantine  towards  the 
Admiral.  The  latter  reached  San  Domingo  on  the  i3th  of 
August,  and  was  received  with  ceremonious  distinction  by 
Ovando,  and  with  apparently  more  genuine  rejoicings  by 
the  population  at  large,  who  treated  the  occasion  as  one  of 
general  festivity.  He  was  lodged  in  the  governor's  man 
sion,  and  shown  every  outward  mark  of  consideration,  but 
underneath  all  ran  a  current  of  stubborn  obstruction  of  all 
of  his  wishes  by  Ovando.  The  Admiral  had  brought  Porras 
with  him  as  a  prisoner,  to  be  tried  in  Spain  for  treasonous 
rebellion,  under  an  indictment  which  had  been  prepared 
and  witnessed  in  due  legal  form.  Ovando  released  him  at 
once,  claiming  that  the  Admiral's  jurisdiction  did  not 
extend  to  Hispaniola.  The  Admiral  sought  a  liquidation 
of  his  accounts,  in  accordance  with  Escobar's  declarations 
and  the  assertions  of  his  own  recognized  agent  concerning 
the  large  balances  to  his  credit.  Ovando  paid  him  a  few 
thousand  ducats,  and  alleged  some  trifling  pretext  for  not 
making  settlement  in  full.  The  Admiral  looked  for  hearty 
cooperation  in  arranging  for  his  return  to  Spain.  Ovando 
did  not  lift  his  hand,  but  left  his  visitor  to  provide  for  the 
voyage  out  of  his  scanty  resources.  Various  explanations 
have  been  advanced  to  whitewash  Ovando' s  attitude  and 
motives,  and  they  are  all  needed.  No  quality  was  more 
common  in  those  days  among  men  of  the  standing  of  the 
Admiral  and  the  governor  than  magnanimous  courtesy. 
That  and  courage  were  the  peculiar  attributes  of  their  caste. 
Ovando  probably  possessed  the  latter;  but  of  the  former  he 
had  not  the  faintest  scintilla.  Many  a  one  among  the 
savage  caciques  whom  he  had  hung  and  burned  could  have 
shamed  him  in  this  respect. 

Left  to  his  own  resources,  the  Admiral  refitted  the  vessel 
bought  by  Mendez  and  chartered  a  second  one.  Many  of 
his  followers  elected  to  remain  in  Hispaniola,  and  these  he 
paid  off.  When,  on  the  i2th  of  September,  he  stood  out 
of  San  Domingo  harbor,1  he  was  well-nigh  as  penniless,  so 

1  The  fact  that  young  Cortez  was  a  resident  of  San  Domingo  or  its 
vicinity  at  the  time  of  the  Admiral's  last  stay  in  that  city  has  suggested 


THE   GREATEST  PERIL    OF  ALL.  495 

far  as  ready  money  went,  as  when  he  knocked  at  the  portal 
of  La  Rabida  thirteen  years  before. 

The  extraordinary  ill-fortune  which  pursued  Columbus  at 
sea  made  no  exception  for  this  voyage.  Soon  after  leaving 
port  the  Mendez  caravel  lost  her  mainmast  and  had  to  put 
back.  Rather  than  delay  his  return  to  Spain,  the  Admiral 
continued  his  voyage  with  the  remaining  vessel.  A  succes 
sion  of  furious  storms  was  encountered  which  nearly  relieved 
both  the  King  and  Ovando  of  their  troublesome  claimant. 
The  ship  was  so  strained  that  her  mainmast  also  went  by 
the  board, —  fortunately  after  the  worst  of  the  gale  was  past. 
A  jury-mast  was  rigged  up  under  the  Admiral's  own  direc 
tions,  his  sailor  instincts  proving  stronger  than  the  disease 
which  kept  him  prisoner  in  bed.  In  a  later  storm  the 
mizzenmast  also  was  lost,  and  a  rude  substitute  had  to  be 
found  for  that  as  well.  At  last,  after  nearly  two  months  of 
struggle,  the  familiar  coasts  of  Andalusia  were  sighted,  and, 
on  the  yth  of  November,  the  ship  anchored  in  the  harbor 
of  San  Lucar.  In  his  impatience  to  reach  Spain,  and  his 
perfect  faith  in  the  welcome  which  his  sovereigns  would 
extend  to  him  and  the  tidings  he  brought  of  uncountable 
wealth,  the  Admiral  thought  little  of  the  unkindness  of  the 
Ocean  Sea.  Had  he  realized  that  he  had  crossed  it  for  the 
last  time,  he  might  have  been  impressed  with  the  parallel 
between  its  treatment  of  him  and  that  of  those  in  whose 
service  he  had  robbed  it  of  all  mystery. 

the  interesting  possibility  that  the  two  great  natures  —  so  different  and 
yet  so  like  —  may  have  met  at  this  time.  As  the  Admiral's  malady 
was  unabated,  and  he  was  confined  to  his  bed  most  of  the  time,  this 
seems  hardly  probable,  unless  the  younger  man  sought  the  senior  as  a 
duty  of  courtesy;  and  this  seems  scarcely  likely  when  we  recall  Cortez's 
disposition  and  tastes  in  those  days. 


XXIV. 
"I    HAVE   DONE   ALL   I    COULD.1' 

WHETHER  Columbus  would  have  been  otherwise 
received  had  he  escaped  the  long  detention  in 
Jamaica,  and  arrived  home  a  year  earlier,  is  an  open  ques 
tion.  That  neither  he  nor  any  other  discoverer,  however  vast 
or  productive  the  distant  regions  they  might  have  added  to 
the  Spanish  dominions,  could  hope  for  more  than  a  per 
functory  hearing  in  the  closing  months  of  1504  was  simply 
a  matter  of  course.  Ferdinand  himself  was  ill,  was  pro 
foundly  immersed  in  the  crisis  of  his  complex  French  and 
Italian  schemes,  and  was  harassed  by  the  approaching 
entanglements  attendant  upon  the  succession  to  the  Castil- 
ian  throne  of  his  demented  daughter  and  her  dearly  hated 
husband  Philip.  Isabella  was  desperately  and  irretrievably 
sick,  and  the  thoughts  and  schemes  of  the  whole  official 
body  were  centred  upon  her  approaching  end.  The 
whole  guidance  of  Indian  affairs  was  necessarily  left  in  the 
hands  of  the  officers  charged  with  their  administration,  and 
it  was  a  mischance  of  old  standing  that  Fonseca,  Bribiesca, 
and  other  avowed  ill-wishers  of  Columbus  were  those  officers. 
Since  his  restoration  to  the  full  enjoyment  of  his  rights, 
which  had  followed  his  return  in  1496  and  the  collapse  of 
the  Boi'1-Margarite-Aguado  cabal,  the  guarantees  originally 
given  him  and  then  confirmed  had  been  so  completely 
ignored  that  nothing  but  a  vigorous  and  inflexible  exercise 
of  the  royal  authority  could  restore  them.  Whoever  would, 
could  and  did  fit  out  expeditions  to  the  Indies.  A  regular 
form  of  license  and  contract  existed,  by  signing  which  any 
496 


"/  HAVE   DONE  ALL   I   COULD."  497 

one  possessed  of  the  means  was  entitled  to  go  whither  he 
wished,  subject  only  to  the  avaricious  scrutiny  of  his 
accounts  and  reports  by  the  Indian  Board  when  he  re 
turned  to  Spain.  As  for  any  participation  by  Columbus  in 
the  outcome  of  such  expeditions,  no  one  so  much  as  gave 
it  a  thought.  Some  hazy  claim  was  known  to  exist,  but  it 
was  a  matter  of  parchments ;  and  he  was  an  indifferent  ser 
vant  of  the  Crown  who  could  not  make  an  unwelcome  con 
tract  read  two  ways.  With  regard  to  Hispaniola  and  its 
revenues,  there  was,  indeed,  less  margin  for  dispute ;  but 
even  here  good  ground  could  be  found  for  endless  disputa 
tion,  and  while  it  lasted  all  the  proceeds  passed  into  the 
royal  coffers.  None  so  well  as  Fonseca  knew  that  the  old 
Admiral's  mainstay  in  past  years  had  been  the  favor  of  the 
Queen,  and  that  was  as  good  as  ended.  The  King  might 
safely  be  trusted  to  restrain  any  spasm  of  unwise  generosity 
should  any  such,  by  some  miracle,  find  its  way  into  his  pre 
occupied  mind.  Those  who  in  past  years  had  found  it 
difficult  to  checkmate  the  Admiral's  energetic  and  well- 
supported  protests  need  not  trouble  themselves  now  at  their 
renewal.  Circumstances  had  changed  at  home  as  well  as  in 
the  Indies. 

It  is  not  to  be  inferred  that  Columbus  was  without  friends. 
He  had  many  who  were  both  influential  and  earnest  in  their 
desire  to  serve.  But,  in  a  personal  government,  a  political 
situation  such  as  then  obtained  in  Spain  paralyzed  all  the 
usual  methods  of  securing  executive  interference.  The 
ordinary  channels  of  access  to  the  throne  were  choked. 
Where  the  individual  interests  of  the  King  were  so  deeply 
involved,  the  interests  of  any  subject  —  or  of  all,  for  that 
matter  —  must  bide  his  convenience.  With  the  Queen 
dying,  and  her  consort  torturing  his  acute  faculties  to  map 
out  a  safe  course  through  the  tangled  web  of  European 
politics,  the  claims  and  quarrels  of  any  individual  in  his 
kingdom  would  fall  on  deaf  ears.  By  and  by  he  would 
attend  to  them ;  whether  in  the  way  the  claimant  desired, 
or  otherwise,  remained  to  be  seen. 

Columbus  failed  to  completely  realize  this,  despite  his  long 
association  with- the  Court.  The  justice  of  his  pretensions, 

32 


498        THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE   ADMIRAL. 

the  value  of  his  past  services,  the  certainty  of  his  ability  to 
perform  others  yet  greater,  and  the  vast  importance  of  a 
wise  administration  of  the  empire  over  sea  were  all  matters 
of  imminent  moment  to  his  mind.  The  news  of  the  Queen's 
desperate  state  was  a  cruel  blow ;  but  it  is  doing  him  no  more 
than  justice  to  say  that  he  grieved  rather  from  his  loyal  devo 
tion  to  her  than  from  any  motive  of  self-interest.  Even  in 
the  event  of  her  death  his  guarantees  remained  intact,  and  he 
persistently  based  his  confidence  in  their  final  recognition 
upon  the  unanswerable  strength  of  his  contracts  with  the 
Crown.  He  saw  that  his  immediate  prospects  of  success  were 
diminished  by  the  existing  condition  of  affairs  at  the  Court ; 
but  he  feared  that  if  he  remained  silent  he  would  be  utterly 
neglected  in  the  clash  of  interests.  It  was  impossible  for 
him  to  wait  personally  upon  Ferdinand,  for  the  winter  had 
set  in  with  unusual  severity,  and  his  now  unremitting  malady 
kept  him  bedridden  in  Seville.  In  this  emergency  he 
decided  to  present  his  case  through  his  son  Diego,  who, 
by  reason  of  his  attendance  upon  their  Majesties,  would  be 
able  to  approach  the  King  with  greater  freedom  than  any 
one  not  attached  to  his  suite.  To  aid  Diego  he  also  arranged 
for  his  younger  son,  Fernando,  and  Don  Bartholomew  to  set 
out  some  time  in  December  for  the  Court,  there  to  give  an 
account  of  the  voyage  just  ended,  and  lend  such  additional 
help  as  they  could  to  the  Admiral's  cause.  He  counted 
much  upon  the  unfailing  friendship  of  Fray  Diego  de  Deza, 
just  elevated  from  the  bishopric  of  Palencia  to  be  archbishop 
of  Seville  and  high  in  the  royal  confidence,  and  upon  other 
of  his  sympathizers  in  the  royal  household.  The  better  to 
submit  prompt  evidence  of  all  that  he  mi^ht  urge  concern 
ing  his  experiences,  both  recent  and  former,  in  Hispaniola, 
he  had  Diego  Mendez,  Alonso  Sanchez  de  Carvajal,  and 
some  other  of  his  personal  followers,  take  up  their  residence 
at  Court. 

In  making  his  appeal  to  Ferdinand,  Columbus  was  acting 
upon  positive  assurances  given  by  the  King  to  Diego  ;  that 
his  father's  wrongs  should  be  promptly  righted,  and  the 
fullest  justice  done  to  his  merits.  As  soon  as  he  heard  of 
the  Admiral's  arrival,  Diego  had  so  written  to  him,  and  it 


/  HAVE  DONE  ALL   I   COULD: 


499 


was  in  reliance  upon  this  latest  evidence  of  the  King's  inten 
tions  that  Columbus  was  acting.  His  object  in  gathering 
around  his  son  a  number  of  loyal  partisans  was  to  have  an 
answer  ready  for  the  malicious  representations  sure  to  be 
made  by  his  enemies,  for  he  had  no  difficulty  in  ascertaining 
that  Fonseca  and  his  clique  had  sent  Porras  and  other  mal 
contents  to  pour  their  version  of  the  Admiral's  conduct  into 
the  ears  of  all  who  would  listen. 

From  his  chamber  in  Seville  Columbus  wrote  weekly 
letters  to  his  son,  many  of  which  have  been  preserved. 
They  are  marked  by  great  earnestness,  sincere  affection,  an 
absolute  trust  in  the  divine  and  royal  justice,  a  profound 
conviction  of  the  equity  of  his  cause,  and  an  outspoken 
detestation  for  the  acts  of  his  enemies.  He  gives  carefully 
detailed  instructions,  as  circumstances  develop,  as  to  the 
course  to  be  pursued  by  his  representatives,  and  dwells 
insistently  upon  the  propriety  of  his  demands.  These  were, 
( i )  the  restoration  of  his  rank  and  prerogatives  as  Viceroy 
of  the  Indies;  (2)  the  assignment  to  him  of  his  proportion 
of  the  revenues  from  the  Indian  islands  and  mainland; 
(3)  an  adjustment  of  the  accounts  due  him  from  Hispani- 
ola;  (4)  the  cancellation  of  all  measures  which  infringed 
his  guarantees.  His  thoughts  were  not  merely  selfish,  for 
in  his  first  instructions  to  Diego  he  especially  directs  him  to 
secure  at  the  earliest  possible  moment  the  payment  of  the 
moneys  due  the  men  who  had  returned  with  him.  His  own 
purse  had  been  emptied  by  the  payments  made  to  those 
remaining  in  the  Indies ;  but  those  who  accompanied  him 
were  even  more  worthy.  He  could  have  provided  enough 
gold  for  all  such  needs,  he  said,  had  he  been  willing  to  rob 
the  people  of  Veragua ;  but  this  he  would  not  do,  because 
it  would  militate  against  the  success  of  future  Spanish  colo 
nies.  A  week  later  he  renews  his  request,  coupling  in  the 
same  sentence  with  his  anxiety  to  get  their  Majesties' 
response  to  his  own  appeal  an  urgent  petition  that  they 
"should  provide  for  the  payment  of  these  poor  people, 
who  have  passed  through  incredible  perils  and  are  the 
bearers  of  such  exalted  tidings."  The  next  week  it  is  the 
same  :  — 


500        THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

"  I  spent  the  little  money  I  received  in  the  Indies  in  bringing 
these  people  who  were  with  me  to  their  homes :  it  would  be  a 
great  load  upon  the  conscience  to  have  left  them  there  uncared 
for.  .  .  .  Try  and  obtain  their  Majesties'  reply  to  my  letter,  and 
that  they  pay  these  people.1' 

So  far  as  any  analysis  of  a  man's  thoughts  is  possible,  this 
"  mercenary  "  visionary  never  contemplated  his  own  distress 
that  he  did  not  consider  that  of  his  still  poorer  followers, 
and  he  urged  their  lesser  claims  with  the  same  importunity 
as  his  own  greater  ones.  In  dwelling  upon  his  persistency 
in  the  latter,  his  critics  do  not  deem  it  necessary  to  refer  to 
the  former. 

Until  the  news  arrived  of  the  Queen's  death,  which 
occurred  on  the  28th  of  November  at  Medina  del  Campo, 
Columbus  had  not  abandoned  hope  of  her  recovery  and  the 
certainty  of  her  beneficent  influence  in  his  behalf.  With 
her  death  he  changed  instinctively  his  plan  of  action,  and 
began  to  lay  more  stress  upon  the  material  side  of  his  argu 
ments,  as  if  aware  that  this  would  have  more  effect  upon 
Ferdinand  than  considerations  of  mere  justice.  His  tribute 
to  the  Queen,  in  a  minute  written  for  Diego's  use,  shows 
the  deep  reverence  he  felt  for  her  character  :  "  Her  life  was 
always  Catholic  and  saintly,  ready  for  all  that  redounded 
to  God's  holy  service,  and  for  this  we  are  bound  to  believe 
that  she  is  in  His  holy  glory,  free  from  the  care  of  this  harsh 
and  wearisome  world."  At  the  same  time  he  dwells,  for 
Ferdinand's  benefit,  upon  the  reckless  maladministration 
of  the  Indies,  declares  that  Ovando  is  disliked  by  all  in  his 
government,  and  shows  how  it  would  be  possible  to  increase 
the  revenue  from  that  island  by  ten  times.  "  They  use  here 
a  proverb  which  says,  '  The  horse  within  its  owner's  sight 
grows  fat,'  "  he  significantly  remarks. 

"...  It  is  essential  that  his  Majesty  occupy  himself  with  and 
study  the  preservation  of  those  lands.  People  say  it  is  on  this 
account  that  he  cannot  furnish  a  good  government  for  the  whole 
of  these  Indies,  and  that  they  are  worthless  and  do  not  yield  the 
return  it  is  right  to  expect.  In  my  opinion  it  would  be  to  his 
advantage  if  he  should  relieve  himself  somewhat  of  this  by 
appointing  some  one  who  would  suffer  through  their  bad 
management." 


"/  HAVE  DONE  ALL   I  COULD."  50! 

The  recommendations  which  he  makes  are  sound  and 
practical,  the  natural  result  of  his  experience,  both  fortunate 
and  the  reverse.  There  is  abundant  outside  evidence  to  show 
that  his  charges,  as  well  as  his  suggestions,  were  more  than 
justified.  That  they  were  not  written  for  selfish  ends 
appears  from  the  total  absence  of  any  allusion  to  his  own 
pretensions  in  this  paper.  Considering  that  he  had  given 
thirteen  years  to  the  development  of  the  Indies,  it  is  not  in 
conceivable  that  he  might  discuss  their  welfare  in  the  abstract 
without  obscuring  the  question  with  his  own  disputes. 

Although  Columbus  wrote,  "  I  am  living  on  borrowed 
money,"  soon  after  he  reached  Seville,  there  is  not  evidence 
to  support  the  assumption  that  he  was  in  abject  poverty. 
He  did  repeatedly  enjoin  upon  Diego  the  necessity  of  econ 
omy,  but  it  was  because  of  the  uncertainty  as  to  when  their 
share  of  the  revenues  would  be  received  from  San  Domingo. 

"  Observe  that  it  is  very  needful  to  watch  them  [the  funds] 
carefully ;  because  I  had  a  quarrel  with  that  governor,  for  every 
body  told  me  that  I  was  entitled  to  11,000  or  12,000  ducats,  and 
I  only  received  4000.  ...  So  that  although  I  possess  moneys 
out  there  [in  Hispaniola],  there  is  no  one  who  dares  to  demand 
them  of  the  Governor  on  account  of  his  haughtiness.11 

Among  the  numerous  and  wealthy  Genoese  merchants 
residing  in  Seville,  he  was  apparently  always  able  to  obtain 
the  funds  required  for  his  immediate  needs  and  for  remit 
tance  to  his  sons  and  Don  Bartholomew.  The  basis  of 
these  advances  was  the  obvious  justice  of  his  claims  to  the 
large  sums  already  due  him,  rather  than  his  indefinite  future 
expectations.  His  expenses  were  large,  with  so  many  per 
sons  engaged  in  his  interests,  and  his  caution  in  restricting 
his  outlays  as  much  as  possible  was  honorable.  "  I  have 
already  said  how  necessary  it  is  to  be  careful  with  money," 
he  wrote  to  Diego  late  in  December,  "until  their  Majesties 
give  us  a  permanent  settlement."  Even  in  his  own  em 
barrassment  he  found  means  to  help  the  neediest  of  his 
followers. 

"  The  payment  of  these  people  who  went  with  me  has  been 
delayed.  I  have  supplied  them  here  with  what  I  could.  They 


502        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

are  poor,  and  must  set  about  earning  a  livelihood.  They  have 
decided  to  go  to  the  Indies,  and  have  been  told  that  everything 
shall  be  done  for  them  that  is  possible,  as  is  only  right,  although 
there  are  among  them  some  who  deserve  punishment  rather  than 
rewards.1' 

The  arrival  in  January  of  the  regular  fleet  from  San 
Domingo  with  no  remittance  for  him  greatly  disquieted 
him,  for  he  had  counted  upon  receiving  his  tithe  of  the 
gold  collected  by  the  governor.  "They  brought  much 
gold,"  he  says,  "  but  none  for  the  Crown.  So  great  a  farce 
was  never  seen,  for  I  left  there  60,000  ducats  already 
coined.  His  Majesty  ought  not  to  allow  this  great  enter 
prise  to  slip  through  his  hands  as  he  does."  As  the  pros 
pect  of  receiving  any  portion  of  his  dues  from  Ovando 
became  more  remote,  he  became  more  urgent  for  economy. 
"  Look  carefully  after  the  expenditures,  for  it  is  necessary," 
is  his  injunction  to  Diego,  after  relating  the  arrival  of  the 
fleet.  A  little  good-will  on  the  part  of  the  Indian  Board 
at  Seville  would  have  removed  all  difficulties  without  com 
mitting  the  Crown  in  any  way  upon  the  main  issues  in 
dispute.  No  one  dared  say  that  the  Admiral  had  no  share 
in  the  revenue  from  the  Indies.  As  a  matter  of  fact  he  did 
have  certain  important  sums  to  his  credit ;  but  on  the  pretext 
of  unsettled  accounts  of  past  voyages,  proper  apportion 
ment  of  various  outlays  between  himself  and  the  Crown, 
differences  of  interpretation  as  to  what  items  were  or  were 
not  to  be  deducted  from  the  gross  revenue  before  making 
division,  and  a  score  of  such  like  quibbles  as  any  keen  clerk 
could  easily  invent,  Fonseca  succeeded  in  blocking  the 
passage  of  a  single  maravedi  from  the  Treasury  to  Columbus. 
There  was,  no  doubt,  great  confusion  in  the  accounts.  The 
absurdity  of  charging  the  Admiral  with  every  biscuit,  needle, 
and  fathom  of  rope  which  went  into  his  several  expeditions, 
and  expecting  him  to  account  for  them  all  at  the  end  of 
a  three  years'  cruise,  gave  ample  opportunity  for  haggling. 
Who  was  to  be  charged  with  the  loss  of  the  four  caravels 
on  the  last  voyage,  Columbus  or  the  Crown?  Who  owed 
the  families  of  the  dead  sailors?  What  became  of  all  the 
merchandise  furnished  for  barter  ?  It  was  easy  enough  for 


"/  HAVE  DONE  ALL   I  COULD."  503 

those  who  held  the  keys  of  the  coffer  to  raise  questions  like 
these  when  pressed  for  settlement.  But  notwithstanding 
these  pettifogging  embarrassments  Columbus  seems  to  have 
continued  to  obtain  such  funds  as  he  absolutely  needed 
from  his  Italian  compatriots.  Poor  he  was,  as  compared 
with  any  honest  computation  of  his  dues,  but  he  was  not 
in  the  wretched  misery  so  often  depicted.  His  acknowl 
edged  claims  were  negotiable  for  part  of  their  face,  at  least. 
Nor  was  he  deserted  and  despised  during  his  long  stay 
in  Seville.  In  the  occasional  absence,  for  many  days,  of 
letters  from  his  son,  he  would  write  chidingly  but  never 
unkindly,  and  more  rarely  would  speak  querulously  or  de 
spondently  of  his  position.  The  wonder  is,  that  a  man  who 
had  passed  through  what  he  had,  and  was  now  finishing  his 
second  year  of  confinement  from  the  gout,  could  ever  write 
cheerfully.  Yet  the  general  tone  of  his  letters  is  chatty  and 
even  bright.  If  we  read  them  without  reference  to  the  cir 
cumstances  of  their  production,  we  may  easily  find  phrases 
which,  taken  singly,  are  lugubrious  enough;  but  read  as  a 
whole,  with  due  regard  to  their  author's  situation,  it  would 
be  hypercritical  to  characterize  them  as  gloomy.  Although 
so  many  of  his  immediate  family  were  at  Court,  he  was  as 
much  at  home  in  Seville  as  anywhere,  and  he  saw  much  of 
his  friends,  if  we  may  judge  from  his  allusions.  He  busied 
himself  with  trying  to  induce  the  officials  of  the  Indian 
Board  to  adopt  certain  measures  of  such  evident  advantage 
to  the  Crown  that  they  were  at  least  carefully  considered, 
and  in  the  intervals  of  his  attacks  of  pain  he  wrote  a  great 
deal.  In  response  to  some  message  or  communication  re 
ceived  from  the  Pope,  he  wrote  an  account  of  his  voyage;  of 
which  he  took  pains  to  make  a  copy  for  Diego  to  show  to 
the  King  and  Fonseca  "  to  avoid  false  reports."  Some  little 
attention  was  given  to  the  "  Book  of  the  Prophecies,"  written 
in  1502,  but  it  was  soon  laid  aside.  With  ever  punctilious 
attention  to  the  preservation  of  the  record  of  his  grants  and 
privileges  intact,  he  sent  to  Genoa  copies  of  his  latest 
assurances  from  their  Majesties,  to  be  filed  with  his  budget 
of  privileges  in  the  Bank  of  St.  George,  and  did  the  same 
to  the  duplicate  set  in  the  hands  of  his  friend  Fray  Gorricio. 


504        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF  THE  ADMIRAL. 

His  close  sympathy  with  the  priestly  orders  secured  him 
much  attention  from  them,  and  he  interested  himself  in  the 
selection  of  fitting  men  for  the  missionary  sees  it  was  pro 
posed  to  create  in  Hispaniola.  Finally,  he  was  at  the  centre 
of  geographical  and  commercial  activity,  and  surrounded 
by  many  congenial  spirits  who  thought  none  the  less  of  the 
"old  Admiral"  because  he  was  out  of  favor  at  Court  and 
was  living  according  to  his  means.  We  do  not  for  a  mo 
ment  assume  that  the  facts  we  have  recited  furnish  any 
palliation  for  Ferdinand's  neglect  of  Columbus.  They 
merely  go  to  show  that  the  stout-hearted  sailor  did  not  fold 
his  hands,  and  spend  his  days  bemoaning  his  fate  as  some 
would  have  us  believe. 

There  is  throughout  these  letters  a  pervading  tone  of 
patient  kindness  which  betokens  a  steadfast  and  generous 
spirit.  To  his  son  Diego  he  is  always  "  Thy  father  who 
loves  thee  more  than  himself."  "Make  much  of  thy 
brother,"  he  writes  again;  "he  has  a  good  disposition  and 
has  already  given  up  youthful  follies.  Ten  brothers  would 
not  be  too  many  for  thee:  I  myself  never  found  better 
friend  either  at  my  right  hand  or  at  my  left  than  my 
brothers."  "Treat  thy  uncle  with  deference,  as  is  right, 
and  deal  intimately  with  thy  brother,  as  the  older  brother 
should  with  the  younger.  Thou  hast  no  other,  and,  God 
be  praised,  he  is  such  as  thou  hast  much  need  of."  He  is 
careful  to  send  messages  of  recognition  in  each  letter  to  all 
his  friends,  sometimes  with  a  special  message  of  acknowledg 
ment  for  services  rendered.  Diego  Mendez,  on  returning 
from  a  visit,  "carries  his  sack  full  of  them."  When  the 
apothecary  Bernal  and  a  companion  were  about  going  to  the 
Court  with  the  avowed  purpose  of  telling  lies  about  him, 
the  harshest  comment  he  has  to  make  is,  "They  are  two 
creatures  for  whom  God  has  done  few  miracles;  if  they  go 
it  will  be  rather  to  do  harm  than  good."  Terreros,  the 
captain  who  was  killed  at  Mayma,  had  made  a  will  in  favor 
of  a  comrade,  and  afterwards  had  cancelled  it  in  favor  of  his 
own  relations.  The  comrade  tried  to  have  the  earlier  one 
recognized,  but  was  disconcerted  by  the  production  of  the 
later  one.  The  Admiral  was  appealed  to  to  aid  the  rightful 


"/  II A  VE  DONE  ALL   I  COULD."  505 

heirs.  He  writes  to  his  son,  "  I  will  take  out  an  order  of 
justice  and  send  it  to  him,  for  I  believe  it  will  be  a  labor 
of  mercy  to  punish  him."  Even  of  the  Porras  brothers  he 
speaks  with  moderation,  albeit  with  unmistakable  indig 
nation.  After  reciting  their  revolt  and  the  impossibility 
of  securing  a  trial  of  Francisco,  the  leader.,  he  reverts  to 
the  fact  that  they  are  going  to  Court  to  join  the  cabal  work 
ing  against  him.  "  I  should  not  wonder  if  God  punished 
them,"  he  writes.  "They  have  gone  there  with  their 
shamelessness."  One  of  the  last  letters  we  have  from  his 
hand  is  a  request  to  his  son  to  try  and  obtain  the  royal  par 
don  for  two  condemned  criminals  for  whom  his  sympathies 
had  been  aroused.  "Arrange  that  Diego  Mendez  places 
this  petition  with  the  other  appeals  for  pardon  which  are 
given  to  his  Majesty  in  Holy  Week.  If  it  should  be 
granted  then,  it  is  well;  if  not,  try  and  secure  it  in  some 
other  way."  There  was  nothing  of  saintly  meekness  about 
him,  but  neither  was  there  any  of  that  petty  vindictiveness 
which  would  have  been  so  natural  to  smaller  natures. 

The  most  singular  incident  in  the  whole  course  of  his 
detention  at  Seville  was  unmistakably  his  utilization  of 
Americus  Vespucci  as  an  additional  witness  to  the  propriety 
of  his  claims.  Vespucci  had  been  summoned  to  the  Court 
for  consultation  in  connection  with  some  maritime  project; 
his  admirers  think  by  reason  of  his  great  skill  as  a  navigator 
and  explorer,  but  the  records  rather  intimate  because  of  his 
experience  as  a  purveyor  of  supplies.  Before  leaving 
Seville,  where  he  was  living  for  the  time  being,  he  met  the 
Admiral.  It  is  likely  that  the  two  men  met  frequently, 
indeed,  for  their  acquaintance  was  of  long  standing,  and 
the  Florentine  had  much  to  learn  from  the  Genoese.  In 
what  respect  the  former  might  be  of  service  to  the  latter,  it 
is  difficult  to  see.  He  might  have  some  knowledge,  from 
his  connection  with  the  outfitting  of  the  earlier  expeditions, 
of  the  Admiral's  financial  disputes  with  the  royal  comp 
trollers;  or  he  might  have  been  able  to  testify  to  some  inci 
dent  of  importance,  as  the  result  of  his  voyage  with  Hojeda. 
Be  that  as  it  may,  Columbus,  on  the  5th  of  February, 
1505,  wrote  to  his  son  as  follows:  — 


506        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE   ADMIRAL, 

"  My  dearest  son :  Diego  Mendez  left  here  Tuesday,  the  3rd 
of  this  month.  After  he  left  I  talked  with  Americus  Vespucci, 
the  bearer  of  this  letter,  who  goes  to  the  Court,  called  thither  by 
some  affairs  of  navigation.  He  has  always  had  the  wish  to  do 
me  pleasure,  and  is  a  very  honest  man.  Fortune  has  been  ad 
verse  to  him,  as  to  so  many  others  ;  his  labors  have  not  availed 
him  as  much  as  he  had  a  right  to  expect.  He  is  going  at  my 
[request]  and  with  a  great  desire  to  do  something  which  shall 
redound  to  my  benefit,  if  it  should  be  within  his  powers.  I  do 
not  know  at  this  distance  in  what  I  can  employ  him  which  shall 
be  to  my  advantage,  because  I  do  not  know  for  what  he  may  be 
wanted  there,  but  he  goes  determined  to  do  for  me  everything 
that  should  be  possible.  Do  you  see  there  in  what  he  can  be  of 
advantage,  and  put  it  in  shape,  for  he  will  say  and  do  all  that  is 
needful  and  will  carry  it  out ;  only  let  it  all  be  done  secretly,  so 
that  he  may  not  be  suspected.  I  have  told  him  all  that  it  is 
possible  to  say  concerning  this  matter,  and  informed  him  of  the 
recompense  made  to  me  and  that  which  is  still  making.  This 
letter  is  for  the  Adelantado  as  well,  so  that  he  may  see  what  is 
desirable  and  advise  him  [Vespucci] .  His  Majesty  may  believe 
that  his  ships  have  been  in  the  best  part  of  the  Indies  and  the 
wealthiest,  and  if  anything  remains  to  be  done  to  prove  this  I 
will  satisfy  him  of  it  at  the  Court,  for  it  is  impossible  to  do  it  in 
writing.'1 

The  effort  to  extol  Vespucci  at  the  expense  of  Columbus 
has  given  employment  to  many  and  skilful  pens,  with  what 
must  be  admitted  to  be,  on  the  whole,  a  negative  result. 
Without  venturing  into  this  endless  controversy,  we  have 
copied  the  Admiral's  letter  for  the  purpose  of  allowing  a 
comparison  between  the  tone  of  his  allusions  to  Vespucci 
and  the  single  reference  extant  in  which  the  latter  refers  to 
the  Admiral.  When  we  add  that  two  years  before  this  letter 
was  written  Vespucci  had  already  claimed,  in  his  own  letters 
to  Soderini,  to  have  discovered  Brazil,  and  the  suggestion 
had  already  been  advanced  that  the  southern  continent, 
discovered  by  Columbus,  should  be  called  America  in  honor 
of  the  man  who  merely  followed  the  dozen  others  who  had 
preceded  him  since  the  Admiral  showed  the  way,  the  mys 
tery  which  surrounds  this  letter  deepens.  Whatever  may 
be  the  ultimate  solution,  the  letter  itself  bears  witness  to  the 
unbounded  generosity  and  simplicity  of  its  writer. 


"/  HAVE   DONE  ALL  I   COULD."  507 

With  the  advent  of  spring  Columbus  felt  able  to  under 
take  the  journey  to  Segovia,  where  the  King  and  his  Court 
were.  Several  times  during  the  winter  he  had  attempted  to 
start  from  Seville,  but  each  effort  failed  by  reason  of  the 
effect  of  the  intense  cold  upon  his  frail  health.  When  he 
did  set  out  he  had  to  travel  in  a  mule-litter,  for  which  a 
special  license  was  procured,  and  the  journey  was  both 
tedious  and  painful.  The  Court  was  reached  in  May.  His 
reception  by  the  King  was  amiable  but  not  cordial.  Con 
sidering  the  attitude  which  Ferdinand  had  assumed  towards 
his  partner  in  the  Indian  venture,  this  is  not  surprising. 
The  Admiral  gave  an  account  of  his  discoveries,  of  the 
resources  of  Veragua,  of  the  many  difficulties  encountered 
during  the  voyage  and  of  its  disastrous  ending.  To  all  of 
these  the  King  gave  interested  attention;  but  it  was  not  the 
quick,  responsive  enthusiasm  with  which  he  had  listened 
to  earlier  recitals  from  the  same  lips.  Finally,  when  the 
Admiral  touched  upon  the  vital  question, —  the  restoration 
of  his  dignities  and  emoluments, —  the  King  repeated  his 
suave  and  well-worn  generalities  about  doing  justice  and 
recompensing  his  servant  in  proportion  to  his  distinguished 
services.  As  a  fact,  Columbus  had  not  advanced  his  cause 
a  jot;  but  his  old  spirit  of  reverential  loyalty  was  aroused, 
and  he  felt  that  the  King's  own  sacred  words  must  neces 
sarily  be  followed  by  some  fitting  act.  When  enough  time 
had  elapsed  and  no  result  was  apparent,  he  handed  Ferdi 
nand  a  memorial  couched  in  that  tone  of  singular  frankness 
which  distinguishes  all  of  his  communications  to  his  sover 
eigns  :  — 

"  Now  my  undertaking  begins  to  open  the  door,  and  shows 
that  it  is  and  will  be  what  I  always  have  said.  Your  Majesty 
is  most  Christian;  I  and  all  those  in  Spain  and  in  the  whole 
world  who  have  knowledge  of  my  deeds  will  believe  that  your 
Majesty,  who  honored  me  at  the  time  when  you  had  no  experi 
ence  with  me  except  words,  now  that  you  see  the  result  will 
renew  to  me,  with  increase,  the  rewards  you  have  given  me,  as 
you  promised  me  by  word  and  in  writing  and  by  your  signature. 
If  you  do  this,  rest  assured  that  I  will  serve  you  the  few  days 
of  life  which  Our  Lord  shall  give  me," 


508        THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

The  King  admitted  then,  as  he  did  to  Diego  after  the 
Admiral's  death,  that  he  owed  the  Empire  of  the  Indies  to 
the  petitioner.  He  confessed  that  the  Admiral  was  entitled 
to  all  that  had  been  promised  him.  But,  he  objected,  there 
were  all  those  questions  of  conflicting  interpretation  to  be 
decided  before  he  could  carry  out  his  honest  and  right  royal 
intentions  towards  the  Admiral:  would  it  not  be  well  to 
submit  these  to  the  arbitration  of  some  learned  and  impartial 
person?  To  this  the  Admiral  promptly  assented  and  sug 
gested  Fray  Diego  de  Deza,  Archbishop  of  Seville,  as  an 
arbiter  acceptable  to  himself  and  one  whose  devotion  to  the 
Crown  was  notorious.  The  King  was  not  unwilling  to  leave 
the  matters  in  dispute  to  the  prelate's  award;  but  at  the 
first  attempt  to  agree  upon  the  questions  to  be  arbitrated 
an  incurable  divergence  arose.  Everything  relating  to  his 
pecuniary  interests  and  shares  Columbus  was  willing  to 
leave  to  be  determined,  after  debate;  but  all  that  touched 
his  rank  and  prerogatives  was  sacred  and  exempt  from 
discussion.  Viceroy  and  Perpetual  Governor  of  the  Indies 
he  was  as  surely  as  Admiral  of  the  Ocean  Sea.  No  one  dis 
puted  the  latter  title,  and  the  former  was  an  integral  part  of 
one  and  the  same  guarantee.  "The  governorship  and  con 
trol  in  which  I  was  are  the  foundation  of  my  honor,"  he 
said  on  a  later  occasion,  and  his  whole  contention  is  epito 
mized  in  the  phrase.  Whether  his  tithe  of  the  Indian 
revenue  was  chargeable  upon  the  net  or  gross  amount 
thereof;  whether  a  certain  part  of  some,  and  the  whole  of 
other  expenses  were  to  be  paid  by  him ;  whether  his  pecun 
iary  rights  extended  only  over  Hispaniola  and  the  other 
islands  or  over  the  whole  mainland  as  well, —  all  these  and 
their  like  he  would  admit  to  argument.  Money  he  needed, 
and  badly,  for  his  daily  wants;  without  his  share  of  the 
future  revenues  of  the  Indies  his  grandiose  but  earnest  pro 
ject  for  recovering  the  Holy  Sepulchre  must  be  abandoned; 
unless  they  received  at  least  a  generous  portion  of  it,  his 
sons  could  not  carry  out  his  charitable  designs;  all  this, 
however,  he  would  make  dependent  upon  the  decision  of  a 
referee.  But  his  dignities  and  their  prerogatives  were  res 
adjudicata.  The  last  word  had  been  said  as  to  them  when 


"/  HAVE   DONE   ALL   I   COULD: 


509 


the  King  and  Queen  ratified  their  conditional  grant  of  his 
honors  after  his  ample  fulfilment  of  the  task  upon  which 
they  were  conditioned. 

Finding  the  Admiral  obdurate  on  this  point,  the  King 
returned  to  his  old  tactics  of  procrastination.  From  the 
fragmentary  testimony  which  remains,  it  is  evident  that  the 
whole  dreary  wrangle,  from  the  days  of  Soria's  and  Bribi- 
esca's  quarrel  in  1493  down  to  the  question  of  jurisdiction 
with  Ovando  in  1504,  was  gone  over  by  the  Admiral's 
opponents  as  furnishing  arguments  to  rebut  his  own.  Fer 
dinand  was  deeply  preoccupied  with  his  other  interests  of 
person  and  State;  having  determined  to  contest  the  Ad 
miral's  claims  he  could  not  give  much  time  to  the  discus 
sions  which  followed,  and  they  were  necessarily  left  to  his 
councillors.  Twice  they  were  laid  before  the  "commission 
for  the  discharge  of  the  Queen's  conscience,"  —  a  board 
sitting  to  consider  reclamations  brought  against  them  as 
representing  the  late  Queen, — and  both  times  they  were 
remanded  without  action.  To  provide  an  easy  solution, 
the  King  recurred  to  the  suggestion  made  Columbus  in  1496, 
and  offered  him  a  Spanish  title  and  estate  adequate  to  main 
tain  it;  but  the  Admiral  declined  to  consider  the  proposal. 
He  did  not  wish  the  rank  for  its  own  sake,  or  the  revenue 
for  the  sake  of  living  at  ease.  To  him  the  Indies  were  a 
direct  gift  from  the  Almighty,  and  their  revenues  for  all 
time  to  come  were  solemnly  pledged  for  certain  defined 
and  beneficent  purposes.  Only  in  the  hands  of  himself  or 
his  delegates  could  these  holy  trusts  be  properly  adminis 
tered,  and  he  knew,  if  no  one  else  did,  what  proportions 
they  would  attain  in  the  future.  He  was  far  from  ignoring 
the  worldly  aspect  of  his  interests;  one  of  the  clearest 
indications  of  the  far-seeing  appreciation  with  which  he 
regarded  the  vast  scope  of  his  discoveries,  is  the  tenacity 
with  which  he  contended  for  the  perpetual  nature  of  his 
vested  rights.  But  that  this  was  secondary  to  his  grand 
schemes  of  religious  and  political  regeneration,  is  definitely 
shown  by  the  disposition  made  in  his  will  of  the  revenues 
to  accrue  from  the  wide  realms  he  had  thrown  open  to  civili 
zation  and  the  true  faith.  His  ambition  to  raise  his  familv 


510       THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE   ADMIRAL. 

to  the  fro'nt  rank  of  European  subjects  was  as  keen  as  it  was 
legitimate;  but  he  looked  upon  them  in  the  remotest  gen 
erations  as  pledged  to  follow  the  injunctions  laid  down  in 
his  testament.  It  was  all  lamentably  unbusinesslike,  but  it 
was  all  desperately  sincere. 

The  time  came,  at  last,  when  he  could  no  longer  main 
tain  so  unequal  a  contest.  It  had  not  been  waged  single- 
handed,  for,  besides  the  devoted  assistance  of  his  own 
personal  circle,  he  had  the  active  sympathy  of  powerful 
friends,  including  the  great  Ximenez,  Archbishop  of  Toledo. 
But  even  with  all  his  support,  the  King's  policy  of  temporiz 
ing  was  bound  to  win  where  the  defendant  was  a  bed-ridden 
invalid,  broken  with  years  of  privation,  hardship,  and  mental 
stress.  Rather  than  continue  in  an  obviously  fruitless 
struggle,  Columbus  made  a  final  appeal  to  Ferdinand.  Since 
the  overwhelming  evidence  of  his  probity  and  loyalty  availed 
nothing,  and  since  the  ample  and  indisputable  guarantees 
given  him  in  the  past  were  ignored,  he  would  ask  for  himself 
only  to  be  allowed  to  retire  in  peace  to  "  some  corner " 
where  he  could  rest  secure  from  the  contentions  and 
persecutions  forced  upon  him  by  tireless  enemies.  The 
quarrel  was  against  him  personally;  he  would  end  it  by 
effacing  himself.  Then  there  could  be  no  pretext  for  oppo 
sition  to  the  righteous  enforcement  of  his  stipulated  rights 
in  the  person  of  his  son  and  heir,  as  explicitly  provided  in 
the  royal  agreements. 

"  Most  humbly  do  I  beseech  your  Majesty,"  ran  his  petition, 
"  that  you  command  that  my  son  be  instated,  in  my  stead,  in  the 
rank  and  enjoyment  of  the  authority  in  which  I  was,  which  so 
nearly  touches  my  honor.  In  all  the  rest,  let  your  Majesty  act 
as  to  you  seems  fit ;  I  shall  be  grateful  for  whatever  it  is.  For  I 
believe  that  the  anguish  caused  by  this  prolonging  of  my  settle 
ment  is  chiefly  what  keeps  me  thus  crippled  by  disease." 

With  this  request  he  submitted  a  memorial  defending 
himself  from  some  of  the  worn-out  charges,  and  particu 
larly  denying  that  of  undue  severity  towards  the  natives  of 
Hispaniola.  He  pointed  to  the  atrocities  permitted,  if  not 
practised,  by  Bobadilla  and  Ovando,  and  challenged  a  com 
parison  with  the  condition  of  the  island  under  his  much- 


"/  HAVE  DONE  ALL   I   COULD."  511 

berated  administration.  "  Although  I  sent  many  of  them 
to  Spain  and  they  were  sold  there,"  he  admits,  referring 
to  the  Indians,  "  it  was  with  the  intent  that  they  should  be 
taught  in  our  holy  faith,  our  arts,  trades,  and  habits,  and 
afterwards  returned  to  their  own  land  to  instruct  others 
there."  He  might  have  added  that  the  King  had  been  glad 
to  pocket  the  proceeds  of  this  questionable  missionary 
experiment,  and  was  still  receiving  a  share  of  the  slaves 
brought  to  Spain  from  the  now  frequent  Indian  expeditions. 
Don  Diego  presented  a  petition  at  the  same  time,  asking 
for  the  fulfilment  of  his  father's  privileges  in  his  person, 
and  offering  to  be  guided  in  all  his  acts  as  Viceroy  by  such 
counsellors  as  the  King  should  appoint. 

Nothing  came  of  this  final  attempt  to  secure  justice 
except  a  fresh  crop  of  protestations,  promises,  and  delays.1 
The  King  was  patching  up  an  alliance  with  his  brother  of 
France,  and  already  preparing  to  wed  a  successor  to  the 
dead  Isabella  as  an  important  step  in  his  complicated  di 
plomacy.  His  crazy  daughter  and  her  husband  were  about 
to  come  to  Spain  from  Flanders  to  occupy  the  Castilian 
throne,  and  Ferdinand  was  bent  on  keeping  Aragon  and 
Naples  for  himself.  He  had  even  less  leisure  than  inclina 
tion  to  study  an  entirely  new  chapter  of  the  controversy 
with  his  stubborn  Admiral.  Columbus  seems  to  have  real 
ized  as  much.  The  malady  which  he  had  so  long  resisted 
was  gaining  upon  him  now  by  perceptible  degrees.  It  could 
not  break  his  courage,  but  it  did  sap  his  powers  of  resistance. 
In  a  letter  to  his  old  ally  and  friend,  Archbishop  Deza,  he 
virtually  relinquished  the  long  and  heart-breaking  struggle. 

"  Since  it  appears  that  his  Majesty  does  not  consider  it  best 
to  comply  with  what  he  has  promised  by  word  and  contract, 

1  A  good  deal  of  light  is  thrown  upon  Ferdinand's  motives  by  a 
remark  he  made  to  Diego  Columbus  some  time  after  the  Admiral's  death. 
Diego  was  urging  upon  the  King  his  claims  as  the  Admiral's  heir : 
"  Look  you,  Admiral,"  replied  Ferdinand,  "  I  may  readily  have  every 
confidence  in  you,  but  have  none  at  all  in  your  heirs  or  successors." 
To  which  Diego  answered,  appositely  enough :  "  Sire,  is  it  right  that  I 
should  suffer  for  the  sins  of  sons  and  heirs  whom  I  may  never  have?" 
Las  Casas  gives  the  story  as  told  him  directly  by  the  young  Admiral. 


512        THE  LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

together  with  the  Queen  (who  is  in  glory) ,  I  feel  that  to  battle 
for  a  contrary  decision  would  be  for  me,  who  am  but  a  rude 
laborer,  to  flog  the  wind.  Therefore  it  is  best,  since  I  have  done 
all  I  could,  to  leave  the  result  now  to  God,  Our  Lord.  I  have 
ever  found  Him  favorable  and  ready  to  help  my  necessity.'1 

The  old  sailor  had  struck  his  flag;  but  when  we  think  of 
the  magnitude  of  the  hopes  and  ambitions  he  was  relin 
quishing  there  does  not  seem  to  have  been  much  that  was 
"hysterical"  or  "maudling"  in  his  capitulation. 

The  steady  advance  of  his  illness,  unchecked  now  by  any 
sustaining  hope,  warned  the  Admiral  that  the  end  was  not 
far  off.  On  the  25th  of  August,  being  then  in  Valladolid, 
whither  the  Court  had  gone  from  Segovia,  he  drew  up  with 
his  own  hand  a  codicil  to  the  will  executed  in  1498.  In 
this  document,  after  reaffirming  minutely  the  order  of 
succession  to  be  observed  in  the  descent  of  his  titles  and 
estates,  and  enjoining  his  heirs  to  respect  the  obligations 
of  the  earlier  will,  he  readjusts  the  income  to  be  drawn  by 
his  sons  and  brothers  from  the  estate,  "  because  up  to  the 
present  there  has  been  no  revenue  from  the  said  Indies." 
Although  he  refers  to  his  contracts  with  and  privileges  from 
the  Crown,  there  is  not  a  word  of  bitterness  or  censure. 
He  does  say  in  speaking  of  the  Indies,  "It  seems  as 
though  I,  by  the  will  of  God  Our  Lord,  gave  these  to  them 
[the  King  and  Queen],  as  though  they  were  something  of 
my  own,  so  to  speak,  since  I  importuned  their  Majesties 
concerning  them,  when  they  were  unknown  and  the  road  to 
them  was  concealed  from  all  who  ever  spoke  of  them" ;  but 
in  saying  this  he  was  merely  stating  an  historical  fact,  to 
explain  why  their  Majesties  made  the  agreement  of  Granada 
with  him.  The  remainder  of  the  codicil  is  without  especial 
interest,  except  the  often  discussed  reference  to  Dona 
Beatriz  Enriquez,  and  the  preference  he  expresses,  in  en 
dowing  a  chapel  in  Hispaniola,  for  the  site  of  Conception 
in  the  Vega,  because  he  there  called  on  the  Virgin  when  in 
extremity;  an  allusion,  apparently,  to  his  battle  with  the 
allied  tribes  in  1494.  With  scrupulous  exactness  he  adds 
to  the  codicil  a  list  of  small  debts  to  be  repaid  sundry 
Genoese  and  Jews  in  Portugal,  running  back  to  1482,  when 


"/  HAVE  DONE   ALL   I  COULD."  513 

he  was  a  poor  map-maker  in  Lisbon.  "This  is  to  be  done 
in  such  manner  that  they  shall  not  know  who  has  ordered 
it  done, ' '  he  charges.  In  the  depth  of  his  disappointment, 
he  was  reviewing  his  whole  life  and  trying  to  square  all 
accounts  before  it  was  too  late. 

The  last  months  of  the  Admiral's  life  are  an  utter  blank 
in  the  records  which  have  survived.  The  winter  of  1505-6 
opened  with  Ferdinand  preparing  for  his  second  nuptials, 
and  for  the  arrival  of  his  daughter  and  her  husband  to 
share  with  him  the  Spanish  throne.  To  meet  Juana  and 
Philip  he  left  Valladolid  sometime  after  the  New  Year,  and 
journeyed  to  Laredo,  on  the  Bay  of  Biscay.  Columbus  was 
unable  to  stir  from  his  couch ;  but  he  sent  Don  Bartholomew 
to  represent  him  at  the  reception  of  the  new  sovereigns  and 
to  hand  to  them  his  own  letter  of  welcome.  It  was  written 
apparently  in  April,  when  the  tide  of  courtiers  was  setting 
northward  to  hail  their  future  rulers;  but  there  is  little  of 
festivity  in  its  tone  of  measured  despondency. 

"I  am  certain  that  your  Majesties  shall  believe,"1  ran  the 
Admiral'?  last  letter.  "  that  at  no  past  time  have  I  had  so  great 
a  desire  for  personal  health  as  I  have  had  since  I  knew  that  your 
Majesties  were  going  to  come  hither  by  sea,  that  I  might  go  and 
serve  you  with  the  experience  and  knowledge  of  navigation 
which  I  may  possess.  It  has  otherwise  pleased  Our  Lord  ;  where 
fore  I  most  humbly  entreat  your  Majesties  that  you  count  me  in 
the  number  of  your  royal  subjects  and  servants,  and  rest  assured 
that,  though  this  illness  assails  rne  now  in  this  pitiless  fashion, 
I  can  still  render  services  beyond  any  which  have  yet  been  seen. 

'•  These  difficult  times  and  other  afflictions  in  which  I  have 
against  all  justice  been  placed,  have  brought  me  to  great  extrem 
ity  ;  for  this  cause  I  have  not  been  able  to  go  to  your  Majesties, 
nor  has  my  son.  Very  humbly  I  beg  that  you  may  accept  the 
intention  and  desire,  as  of  one  who  hopes  to  be  restored  to  his 
rank  and  estate  as  my  patents  guarantee." 

What  sen-ice  the  writer  contemplated  rendering  his  new 
sovereigns  cannot  even  be  conjectured.  It  would  be  natural 
for  him  to  plan  a  voyage  into  the  remote  South,  to  determine 
once  and  for  all  the  extent  of  the  continent  which  little  by 
little  was  being  shown  to  be  so  vast.  That  he  had  some 
such  prospect  awaiting  his  restoration  to  health  is  clear, 

33 


514        THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE   ADMIRAL. 

and  that  he  counted  upon  finding  in  Isabella's  daughter  a 
revival  of  the  protection  which  the  mother  had  vouchsafed 
him.  Those  who  were  in  a  position  to  know  believed  that 
in  this  he  would  not  have  been  disappointed.  The  favorable 
reception  accorded  Don  Bartholomew  by  Queen  Juana  and 
her  husband,  and  their  kind  verbal  reply  to  the  Admiral's 
letter  support  the  probability. 

Whether  Columbus  knew  of  the  friendly  disposition  ex 
pressed  by  their  Majesties  is  uncertain.  They  arrived  at 
Corunna  at  the  end  of  April;  but  it  may  readily  have  been 
several  days  later  that  Don  Bartholomew  had  his  audience, 
and  the  road  to  Valladolid  was  neither  short  nor  smooth. 
If  the  tidings  did  not  reach  the  Admiral  early  in  May,  they 
would  have  been  only  an  added  bitterness,  for  by  the 
middle  of  the  month  it  had  become  apparent  that  neither 
rank  nor  revenue  would  avail  him  anything.  On  the  iQth 
of  May  he  called  in  Pedro  de  Hinojedo,  a  notary  of  the 
city,  and  confided  to  him  the  codicil  drawn  in  August, 
to  be  duly  certified  and  recorded.1  Nine  of  the  Admiral's 
friends  and  retainers  witnessed  this  acknowledgment,  among 
them  being  Bartolom£  de  Fiesco,  the  courageous  companion 
of  Diego  Mendez.  The  testator  was  described  in  the  cer 
tificate  as  being  "ill  of  body,"  but  no  other  intimation  is 
given  of  his  real  condition.  On  the  next  day,  May  the 
2oth,  being  the  festival  of  Ascension,  he  was  so  low  that 
the  sacrament  was  administered  to  him.  At  least  one  of 
his  sons,  Diego,  several  of  his  friends,  and  a  number  of  his 
body- servants  were  with  him.  What  scenes  passed  in  the 
closing  hours  of  that  eventful  life  have  never  been  disclosed, 
and  we  only  know  that  he  was  conscious  when  the  end  came. 
Repeating  the  words  of  the  Psalmist,  "  Into  Thy  hands,  O 
Lord,  I  commend  my  spirit,"  the  old  Admiral  entered  upon 
his  last  and  longest  voyage  into  the  Unknown. 

The  limitations  of  character  which  stamped  Columbus 
as  a  man  among  men  and  not  a  demi-god  are  as  apparent 
to  all  who  study  his  life  as  are  his  preeminent  deeds. 

1  The  notary  was  evidently  familiar  with  the  disputes  between  his 
client  and  the  Crown,  for  he  adds  the  words  "  which  he  said  he  was," 
after  the  recital  of  the  Admiral's  titles  of  Viceroy  and  Governor-General. 


"7  HAVE   DONE  ALL   I   COULD."  515 

Since  he  made  no  effort  to  conceal  them,  it  is  superfluous  for 
us  to  attempt  the  task.  Few  men  have  taken  less  pains  to 
pose  as  paragons  than  did  this  one,  conscious  though  he 
was  that  his  achievements  would  command  the  admiration 
of  future  generations.  The  interests  of  historical  truth  may 
properly  demand  that  a  man's  nature  should  be  faithfully 
portrayed ;  but  they  cannot  be  served  either  by  the  exagger 
ation  of  his  shortcomings  or  that  of  his  services  to  human 
ity.  To  claim  that  the  world's  truly  great  are  flawless,  and 
to  deny  to  all  who  are  not  a  title  to  the  plaudits  of  succeed 
ing  ages,  is  to  narrow  the  heroes  of  humanity  to  a  number 
not  encouraging  to  those  who  have  faith  in  the  elevation  of 
their  kind.  We  do  not  exhaust  our  critical  faculties  in 
detecting  and  magnifying  the  shortcomings  of  the  contem 
poraries  of  Columbus, —  of  Luther,  Copernicus,  Michael 
Angelo,  Da  Vinci,  or  Raphael, —  although  no  one  of  them 
was  free  from  the  weaknesses  of  the  flesh.  In  what  respect 
shall  we  be  benefited,  or  his  fame  be  impaired,  when  we 
have  proven  to  our  own  satisfaction  that  the  dauntless  ex 
plorer  possessed  his  share  of  the  errors  common  to  the  clay 
of  which  we  are  all  made?  In  no  single  instance  did  he 
pretend  otherwise. 

The  general  accusations  which  are  brought  against  him, 
—  of  avarice,  cruelty,  misgovernment,  nepotism,  and  the 
like, —  are  as  old  as  the  great  voyage  of  1492.  Twice  in  his 
lifetime  and  once  afterward,  these  were  brought  forward, 
prosecuted  with  venomous  perseverance,  and  dismissed  for 
want  of  foundation.  It  is  only  common  fairness  to  hold  a 
man  absolved  from  charges  thrice  preferred  and  thrice 
refuted  by  a  tribunal  of  ultimate  appeal.  When  Columbus 
returned  from  Hispaniola  in  1496,  the  vehement  assertions 
of  the  Boil-Margarite-Aguado  cabal  were  utterly  disproved, 
and  the  King  and  Queen  heaped  fresh  honors  upon  him 
in  compensation  for  their  momentary  distrust.  In  1502, 
when  he  appeared  before  them  in  Bobadilla's  fetters,  pur 
sued  by  a  tireless  persecution,  his  sovereigns,  in  their 
instructions  to  Ovando,  and  their  emphatic  condemnation 
of  Bobadilla  and  Roldan,  vindicated  completely  the  Admi 
ral's  administration,  although  they  took  selfish  advantage 
of  the  injuries  done  him.  Finally,  years  after  he  was 


516        THE   LAST    VOYAGES   OF   THE   ADMIRAL. 

dead,  when  the  Council  of  the  Indies  at  the  petition  of  his 
son  took  cognizance  of  those  claims  which  the  Admiral  had 
so  persistently  urged  upon  Ferdinand's  consideration,  its 
learned  and  independent  members  were  compelled  to  admit 
that  his  reclamations  were  well  grounded  and  his  rights 
explicit.  Those  who  care  to  read  the  evidence,  pro  and 
contra,  submitted  to  the  Council,  may  find  there  all  the 
criticisms  and  censures  with  which  in  later  years  we  have 
become  familiar  as  the  fruit  of  some  modern  methods  of 
historical  analysis.  Several  unlettered  mariners  from  the 
ports  of  Andalusia, —  and  especially  those  who  testified  from 
hearsay, —  anticipated  the  labors  of  certain  later  historians 
in  trying  to  prove  that  the  "old  Admiral"  did  not  amount 
to  nearly  as  much  as  some  deluded  people  supposed. 

Yet  it  is  difficult  to  point  to  a  single  important  discovery 
within  the  quarter  of  a  century  following  the  death  of 
Columbus  in  which  his  direct, —  not  remote, —  influence  is 
not  apparent.  We  have  already  traced  the  intimate  con 
nection  between  his  explorations  and  the  finding  of  Brazil, 
the  coasts  of  the  Spanish  Main  and  Yucatan,  and  shown 
that  Cortez  was  guided  to  Mexico  by  a  pupil  of  the  great 
discoverer.  On  turning  over  the  contemporary  records  of 
other  voyages  we  shall  find  that  Cuba  was  first  circumnavi 
gated  by  Sebastian  del  Campo,  another  disciple;  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico  coasted  and  the  Mississippi  found  by  Garay,  a 
trusted  subordinate;  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  crossed,  and 
the  Pacific  descried  by  an  expedition  in  which  other  fol 
lowers  of  the  Admiral  figured;  and,  finally,  the  voyage  of 
Magellan  and  the  conquests  of  Pizarro  shared  by  men  who 
had  served  their  apprenticeship  under  the  great  explorer. 
In  all  of  these  and  many  lesser  exploits,  there  will  be  found 
some  link  binding  them  to  the  theories  and  teachings  of 
him  who,  to  use  Las  Casas's  simile,  found  the  thread  lead 
ing  up  to  the  ball  of  twine.  When  we  bear  in  mind  the  innu 
merable  reports,  letters,  arguments,  and  maps  which  Colum 
bus  is  known  to  have  prepared  but  which  have  never  been 
found,  the  extraordinary  activity  of  his  mind  and  the  accu 
racy  of  his  deductions,  it  is  not  difficult  to  believe  that 
those  who  had  access  to  the  full  record  of  his  researches 
possessed  therein  a  mine  of  geographical  inspiration. 


"7  HAVE   DONE  ALL  I  GOULDS  517 

Columbus  is  entitled  to  no  special  pleading.  He  is  to  be 
judged  by  his  record,  precisely  as  are  Ferdinand,  Fonseca, 
Bobadilla,  and  Ovando.  In  his  case  the  record  is  singularly 
full  and  clear,  actions  and  motives  alike  being  set  forth  with 
transparent  simplicity.  Whether  they  were  laudable,  or  the 
reverse,  each  investigator  may  decide  for  himself.  The 
controversy  as  to  his  character  and  purposes  is  not  a  modern 
one,  as  appears  from  the  reflections  of  Oviedo  and  Gomara. 
To  his  own  contemporaries  it  did  not  occur  either  to  ascribe 
to  him  immunity  from  mortal  error,  or  to  look  upon  him  as 
a  moral  pariah.  None  of  his  critics  has  been  more  severe 
upon  him  than  was  his  associate  Las  Casas,  in  respect  of 
his  attitude  toward  those  natives  who  did  not  meekly  accept 
the  Spanish  rule.  But  although  the  devoted  Protector  of  the 
Indians  often  scores  the  Admiral  unsparingly,  he  did  not  feel 
constrained  to  brand  him  as  deficient  in  every  quality  that 
goes  to  make  a  man.  Here  is  his  deliberate  judgment  of  the 
Admiral's  character,  written  after  many  years  of  intimate 
association  with  the  very  men  who  had  contributed  most 
of  the  material  upon  which  later  criticism  is  founded :  — 

"Don  Christopher  Columbus  .  .  .  was  affable  and  cheerful, 
well-spoken,  and  eloquent,  grave  in  moderation,  amiable  with 
strangers,  courteous  and  mirthful  with  those  of  his  household ; 
preserving  a  modest  dignity,  but  given  to  discreet  conversation, 
so  that  he  readily  won  the  affection  of  those  who  knew  him. 
He  possessed  the  manner  and  appearance  of  one  entitled  to 
veneration,  of  high  rank  and  authority  and  worthy  of  all  respect. 
He  was  sober  and  temperate  in  eating,  drinking,  and  dress. 
When  speaking  lightly  with  any  one  in  familiar  discourse,  or 
when  reproving  any  one  in  anger,  he  was  used  to  say  '  I  give 
you  to  God,  does  not  it  seem  so  to  you  ? '  or,  '  why  did  not  you 
do  so  and  so? '  He  was  learned  in  astronomy,  deeply  skilled  in 
navigation,  knew  Latin  and  composed  verses. 

•'In  the  observances  of  the  Christian  religion  he  was  an 
earnest  Churchman,  of  notable  devotion.  Almost  everything  he 
said  or  did  he  always  prefaced  with  ;In  the  name  of  the  Holy 
Trinity  I  will  do  this.1  In  every  letter  or  paper  he  wrote  he 
placed  at  the  head  '  Jesus,  His  Cross  and  Mary  be  with  us  on 
the  way.'  His  oath  occasionally  was,  '  I  swear  by  St.  Ferdi 
nand.'  When  wishing  to  affirm  anything  with  solemnity  in  his 
letters,  especially  those  to  his  sovereigns,  he  said,  'I  take  my 
oath  that  this  is  the  truth.'  He  observed  the  fasts  of  the  Church 


518        THE  LAST    VOYAGES    OF   THE  ADMIRAL. 

most  scrupulously,  confessed  and  communed  often ;  recited  all 
the  canonical  prayers  ;  was  much  opposed  to  blasphemy  and 
profane  swearing,  and  deeply  devoted  to  Our  Lady  and  the 
Holy  St.  Francis.  ...  He  was  very  zealous  for  the  honor  of 
God  and  very  anxious  for  the  conversion  of  the  Indians  and  that 
the  faith  of  Jesus  Christ  should  be  extended.  He  was  singularly 
devoted  to  the  hope  that  God  should  make  him  worthy  to  do 
something  towards  the  recovery  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre. 

"  He  was  a  man  of  lofty  soul,  valiant,  of  high  aims,  especially 
inclined,  as  may  be  gathered  from  his  life,  deeds,  writings,  and 
conversation,  to  undertake  preeminent  and  singular  exploits ; 
patient  and  long-suffering ;  a  forgiver  of  injuries ;  one  who 
desired  nothing  more,  —  according  to  what  is  related  of  him  — 
than  that  those  who  wronged  him  should  recognize  their  errors 
and  become  reconciled  with  him.  He  was  most  constant  and 
forbearing  in  the  trials  and  adversities  which  constantly  beset 
him  and  which  were  incredible  and  endless  ;  maintaining  always 
a  perfect  trust  in  Divine  Providence.  And  of  a  surety,  both  from 
what  I  heard  from  himself  and  from  my  own  father  and  the  other 
persons  who  accompanied  him  when  he  returned  to  colonize  the 
Island  of  Hispaniola  in  1493, —  he  cherished  and  retained  always 
an  affectionate  loyalty  and  devotion  for  his  sovereigns." 

One  who  gains  in  the  battle  of  life  such  victories  as  were 
given  to  Columbus  to  win,  and  who  leaves  behind  him  such 
an  impression  even  upon  those  with  whom  he  disputed  upon 
vital  issues  of  right  and  wrong,  does  not  need  the  intem 
perate  applause  of  "canonizers,"  and  cannot  suffer  by  the 
censure  of  professed  iconoclasts.  Either  he  was  what  Las 
Casas  portrays,  or  he  was  what  his  modern  accusers  would 
have  us  believe;  a  maundering,  hypocritical  sentimentalist, 
besotted  with  ambition  and  sordid  avarice,  who,  by  the 
grace  of  Fortune  and  the  Trade  Winds,  stumbled  upon  our 
western  world  while  leading  a  filibustering  expedition  to 
the  eastern  shores  of  Asia.  If  this  is  all  there  was  in 
his  career  to  command  our  consideration,  the  sooner  we 
erect  statues  to  Juan  Rodrigues  Bermejo  and  Alonzo  Perez, 
who  with  corporeal  vision  first  espied  the  sands  of  Guana- 
hani  and  the  peaks  of  Trinidad,  the  more  quickly  shall  we 
do  merited  honor  to  historical  truth. 


YC130475 


WINGO  BOOKS 
3907  W  Street  N.W. 
Washington  7,  D.  C. 


